There has been little Hope or Change in the position of our country's chief executive with regard to waging war since 2008, as Barack Obama continued to prosecute the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with vigor. With the US involvement in Libya becoming less about mere "democratic aspirations" of the Libyan people and more about how it and other Western nations think Gadhafi must "go and go for good," Congress is calling Barry on his dangerous precedent. A bipartisan group threatens to file a lawsuit against the president and House Speaker John Boehner demands an explanation as to why they haven't been consulted. Even George "We'll Smoke 'Em Out" Bush asked for a vote. For one of his wars, at least.
In a letter sent to the president yesterday, Boehner asks him to explain how the administration has not run afoul of the War Powers Act, which stipulates that hostility not authorized by Congress must be stopped after 60 days. Boehner wrote "either you have concluded the War Powers Resolution does not apply to the mission in Libya, or you have determined the War Powers Resolution is contrary to the Constitution." Obama seems to be going with "it doesn't apply."
Today a State Department spokesman, in an interview with the Times, defended the administration's actions, saying, "We are acting lawfully. We are not saying the president can take the country into war on his own." Because America hasn't been involved in "hostilities" since April 7, and because NATO took the reigns of the operation, the "very limited nature" of the situation does not violate the Act. As one NYU law professor puts it, "There is no clear legal answer," and it may all boil down to what the definition of "hostilities" is. At least this time around the semantics will actually mean something.
