Joe Biden Warned In 2007 That He'd Impeach Bush For Waging War Without Congressional Approval The Huffington Post | March 23, 2011 The sudden involvement of the U.S. military in Libya has prompted some intense debate over whether the executive branch has the right to pursue military action against a foreign power without consulting Congress. By all indications, the White House has complied with the language of the War Powers Resolution, which essentially says, "Gosh, it would be nice if you let us know in advance if you're going to start warring with people, but if you can't for some reason, you know, just send us a letter within 48 hours, okay?" That said, an emailer reminds me that once upon a time, Vice President Joe Biden waged a mini-campaign against the Bush White House potentially waging unlateral war in Iran. Here's Biden on the campaign trail in New Hampshire in November of 2007: QUESTIONER: "I have a great fear that say you're elected as the nominee of the party. Next August sometime during the summer, Dick Cheney and George are going to bomb Iran."Now, it's important to realize that there's no way in the wide world that President Barack Obama is going to get impeached over this. As Dave Weigel pointed out Tuesday, the prevailing attitude in Congress over the matter of congressional approval is best exemplified by the statements made by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who each basically said they'd simply rubber-stamp whatever Obama wanted to do. "I'd be glad to vote on it afterwards," said Graham, all but cementing Congress' ornamental role in military conflict. Oversight of these matters was a responsibility that Congress abdicated a long, long time ago. (It better suits the modern legislator to preserve the chance to score cheap political points off of warmaking than it does actually providing oversight over warmaking in the first place.) But it would still be interesting to see how Biden would reconcile his position in 2007 with what his executive branch is doing today. |