John McCain, an Honorable and Serious Politician

As I noted in my June 6th blog :

“Libya has become the subject of a US House of Representatives resolution condemning President Obama’s waging war in the country for more than 60 days without seeking congressional authorization. The American Congress, not the President, has the power to declare war…. Watch this new fight over Libya because it could do more damage to President Obama than anything that has come before, even his Obamacare health care overhaul.”

Well, this week the fight is underway in earnest.

The House of Representatives has sent a request to the White House to answer detailed questions about the US intervention in Libya, undertaken without seeking approval from the Congress beforehand or immediately after the intervention began. The resolution says that the House will consider President Obama in violation of the pre-existing War Powers Resolution starting Saturday. The White House says it intends to comply with the request today or tomorrow.

Yesterday, Senator John McCain appeared on CNN to speak about the battle now engaged between the President and the House.

He tried to tell the GOP in Congress to tread lightly on the War Powers Resolution in so far as it concerns President Obama and Libya, a decision which most Americans support. He noted that the War Powers Resolution gives the Congress only one power - to stop funding if a president does not comply with its requirement to get congressional authorization within 90 days after a “war” begins. He added that GOP House Speaker Boehner’s inclusion of a phrase saying that the use of ground troops would therefore be unconstitutional is dangerous, since only the president can decide when and where to place American troops. And, he added, nobody wants to put American troops on the ground in Libya anyway, so why risk a constitutional challenge to an otherwise legal request.   

McCain was magnificent, even if his advice will probably be lost on Boehner and gang. If Obama had a few more honorable and honest colleagues like Senator John McCain, and if he could bring himself to listen to them, he’d be a much better president.

Last night we watched someone with presidential stature. But, tell me, how can McCain be so eloquent now and have blown it so completely in the 2008 campaign?