Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Say What?   [Matthew J. Franck]

Here's an interesting story in Politico reporting on expectations that President-elect Obama will reverse various Bush executive orders.  I am a skeptic about how far this will go, and doubt there will in fact be "dramatic gestures aimed at reversing President Bush’s accumulation of executive power."  I tend to agree instead with U. of Chicago law prof Eric Posner, who tells Politico " "I just don't think presidents voluntarily give up power."  Right—even with a Dawn Johnsen at OLC.

But by far the most interesting line in the story is this one from Obama in 2007, which I missed at the time: "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution."

Drop the parenthetical clause, a distracting and unjust jab at President Bush (albeit the proximate reason for uttering the sentence during the presidential campaign), and read that again: ""I was a constitutional law professor, which means . . .  I actually respect the Constitution."

I would have thought the rebuttable presumption was exactly the reverse.

01/13 08:51 AMShare