Invoke the 14th Amendment--Political Consequences Be Damned

Politico Arena Topic: Should Obama Invoke the 14th Amendment?

In the event that Congress is unable to come to agreement on a balanced deficit reduction bill or a clean bill which simple raises the debt ceiling, President Obama should absolutely utilize his unilateral powers to raise it. During George W. Bush’s presidency, Congress raised the debt ceiling seven times with little fanfare. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Congress raised the limit eighteen times. I have little doubt that Presidents Reagan or Bush would have raised the ceiling unilaterally had Congress pulled the kinds of political shenanigans we are seeing today—consequences be damned.

The president’s most important responsibility is to protect the American people—allowing the country to default on its obligations would do irreparable harm to the economy and the citizenry. The President—any president—has a duty to not let that happen. Even without the 14th Amendment, President Obama would be justified in using his prerogative powers just as Abraham Lincoln did during the Civil War, and other presidents such as Woodrow Wilson and FDR did during times of crisis.

There would certainly be a political cost to using unilateral powers to end this congressionally contrived crisis; however, the costs of doing nothing would be much steeper. The House would likely move to impeach the President but even if successful, a conviction would be unlikely in the Senate where a 2/3 majority is necessary for removal. For many, President Obama would be a hero as he moved decisively to save a country held hostage by Tea Party radicals in the House of Representatives.

Permalink to Politico Arena comment

Peacetime Abe

I happened across another interesting Abraham Lincoln blog, this time created by a Lincoln historian from Anderson University. In an interesting post, the blog author asks what a Lincoln presidency would have looked like absent the Civil War:

"Remove the Civil War from the equation of Lincoln's time as president, and it seems to me that his primary political reality would have been this: he was the leader of a new, fragile political party. I think that shoring up the Republican political foundation would have been a top priority of a peacetime Lincoln presidency."

I can't disagree with that. Lincoln would have been seriously challenged in terms of party unity had he not had the Civil War as a unifying principle. Absent that, the abolitionist wing and conservative wing may well have torn the party in two.

"Peacetime Abe would have confronted two stark and difficult realities that were not so readily apparent during the war. First, the fact of the Republican Party's geographic isolation: not just its total lack of presence in the South, but also the fact that the Republicans got shut out of the Border States, as well. This would have seemed a dire political reality to both Lincoln and other party leaders during his first term; they surely would have thought that they could not count on a four-way split of the American electorate again in 1864, as in 1860....Second, the party's fissure between radicals and conservatives would have been quite pronounced, and required a good deal of smoothing over by Lincoln and other party leaders. The war did this for Lincoln, in many ways. In the real world, from 1861 to 1865 the two wings of the Republican Party could at least agree on one thing: the need to defeat the Confederacy. But after the war the divisions in the party became very apparent. Something like this Reconstruction process would have confronted Peacetime Abe. Take all this together, and I think Peacetime Abe as party leader would likely have steered his presidency in a fairly conservative direction....All presidents steer towards the political center once they enter office. Peacetime Abe would have done so, but the need would have possibly been even more pronounced. And this would have had a decided impact on his policymaking."

An interesting thesis from the A. Lincoln blog and one I'd tend to agree with. However, I wouldn't agree that all presidents steer toward the political center once they enter office. There are plenty of examples to discredit that thesis (Bush 43, LBJ, FDR just to name a few).

I have listed the blog in the blogroll. Enjoy.

Awaiting the Reopening of Ford's Theater Museum

The Abraham Lincoln Blog (which I happened across and highly recommend) has a nice write-up of the reopening of museum at Ford's Theater, the place where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. I visited the theater and museum almost four years ago and it was spectacular then. Since being renovated, my expectations are even higher.

From the WaPo: "They dressed Mr. Lincoln again yesterday for his upcoming public appearances. They buttoned his vest, straightened his tie and smoothed his frock coat. Four people helped pull on his pants. Wearing white cotton gloves, they picked lint from his left shoulder, slid on his boots and reattached his left arm with a tiny wrench. The dried blood near the knees of his pants, they could do nothing about. This was, of course, not the real Abraham Lincoln being re-dressed in the new museum at Ford's Theatre. It was only a cloth-and-metal mannequin clad in the clothes the president wore the night of his assassination. But curators, volunteers and technicians fussed as if they were dressing the real man, clucking over the unmatched buttons on his fly and marveling at the oil still oozing from his boots 144 years after he took the carriage to Ford's on April 14, 1865. The dressing of the mannequin, and its installation in its new glass case, were among the last tasks before the museum reopens to the public July 15. The museum has been closed for almost two years while it and the famous theater were renovated as part of a $50 million project. The theater reopened in February."

The Secret Message in Abe's Watch

A secret message inscribed in President Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch was only recently discovered by officials at the Smithsonian Institution. By happenstance, the pocket watch was being serviced by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon when the shop owner burst in with news that the Union Army's Fort Sumter had been attacked, thus beginning the Civil War. Dillon then inscribed the following message inside the guts of the watch: "Jonathan Dillon April 13-1861. Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date thank God we have a government." Of course, Fort Sumter was actually attacked on April 12, but no matter--you get the point.

Rumors of the hidden message have existed for 150+ years but it was treated as more legend than fact. This artifact of history might have gone undiscovered had Doug Stiles, great-great-grandson to Dillon, not alerted Smithsonian officials to the existence of a letter from Dillon purporting the existence of the hidden message.

Happy 200th Birthday Mr. Lincoln

A complicated individual; a consequential time; a truly great American president.

A Herculean Task for a New President

Just sitting here thinking about the incredibly long laundry list of challenges facing Barack Obama about 36 hours out from his inauguration as America's 44th president. Other than Abraham Lincoln facing the prospect of the nation going to war against itself, I cannot think of a more challenging time for any individual about to ascend to the presidency.

The picture at left was originally taken by Kyle Kutuchief at the Chief Source in early 2007 at a Cleveland, Ohio campaign rally. My how the world and country have changed since that photo was taken. I hope and pray that the American public is patient because it's going to take a good long while to turn this ship around.

Below are just some of the issues in no particular order (if you can think of others, please feel free to comment).

Domestic Challenges

Rising health care costs
Crumbling infrastructure
Rising education costs
Rising energy costs

Economic Challenges

A record deficit ($1+ trillion) and debt ($10+ trillion)
A plummeting stock market and economic downturn, complete with sharply rising unemployment
Crashing real estate markets

Environmental Challenges

Global warming/climate change
Conservation
Endangered species

International Challenges

War on terror
Iraq War
Afghanistan War
A resurgent Russia
China and India on the rise
Iran's nuclear ambitions
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict