POLITICO: The fight over presidential authority in the military conflict in Libya reached a tipping point Wednesday, morphing from an academic discussion over the War Powers Resolution to a serious challenge to President Barack Obama’s authority to keep U.S. forces involved in the NATO-led air bombings of the North African dictatorship.
A day after House Speaker John Boehner declared Obama would soon be in violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a bipartisan coalition of 10 members of Congress sued the president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, arguing they are violating the law. The turn of events sent the White House scrambling to respond; the administration released a report justifying its actions in legal and military terms.
The rift marks the first major foreign policy dispute between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic White House. Formerly hawkish Republicans, now focused on the burgeoning national debt, are demanding Obama explain his actions abroad in a way Democrats once asked of his predecessor. .. (more)
EDITOR: With the politically charged Supreme Court, there is no way of telling where this may lead. Apparently most Republicans and Democrats have concluded it is best to look the other way, since US involvement is not that great. Our real problems are with Iraq and Afghanistan.
