There has been a lot of discussion that the President hasn’t even spoken to Congress on Syria, let alone brought the matter to Congress for approval, as is required by the Constitution. Remember this tweet from Ted Cruz yesterday?
So last night there was an administration conference call with several Congressional leaders to “consult”.
Oh, invitation-only, by the way. Here is a list of the 26 people invited to the Friends of Barack meeting
Even the most basic of town hall meetings is required to follow the Sunshine Law. The discussion was unclassified. So why is this not before the rest of Congress in a open public meeting?
We have discussion of how we will strke, leaking like a sieve, but discussion about why, being conducted in the dark. Even Britain realized the necessity of bringing the matter to Parliament for an open discussion. And they don’t have our Constitution.
Susan Rice, with all her usual aplomb, tweeted about it.
Sec. Kerry, Sec. Hagel, Dir. Clapper and I held a call earlier tonight with members of Congress to consult on the situation in #Syria
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) August 30, 2013
Did you see it?
Yes, the Imperial President wasn’t on the call yesterday. Amazing.
Not only doesn’t he have time to meet with Congress to get approval, as is required by the Constitution, he can’t even be bothered to talk to a small group of them on a call.
No problem, says Nancy Pelosi, apparently abdicating her Consitutional responsibility:
.@NancyPelosi: "We were assured during the call there would be ongoing consultation with Congress."
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) August 30, 2013
What did Obama have time to do yesterday, as he is getting set to bomb Syria and involve us in a war?
He had time to meet with Magic Johnson to talk about “creating jobs”.
Our eagle-eyed CNN WH crew just spotted Magic Johnson arriving at the West Wing.
— Jim Acosta (@JimAcostaCNN) August 29, 2013
You make the call. Did these two meetings happen at the same time? https://t.co/PM3owhZzpS https://t.co/DDTYvO2aC3
— John Ekdahl, Jr. (@JohnEkdahl) August 30, 2013
Yes, in answer to the question, the two meetings appear to have been at the same time. Thank you, John Ekdahl.
He also apparently skipped out on another meeting on Syria on Tuesday night to meet with the family of Trayvon Martin, among other things.
CNN has learned a cabinet-level "Principals Committee" meeting was held at the WH this evening on Syria. No POTUS.
— Jim Acosta (@JimAcostaCNN) August 28, 2013
You cannot conduct foreign policy like a political campaign, and just dial in fancy rhetoric. Even if you can buffalo your supporters, you cannot fool the rest of the world.
The brilliance of Clint Eastwood’s skit is showing, unfortunately for all of us.
HT: John Ekdahl, Jim Acosta, Mike Memoli