Mario Cuomo

“FOOL ME ONCE….”

Can there be any doubt after last night’s Democratic debate that before he leaves office President Bush might attempt to start still another war, this one against Iran or Syria, preemptively without the “Declaration of War” by Congress required by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

The most chilling aspect of the debate for Democrats is that none of our candidates strongly challenged the President’s constitutional power to do that. That suggests Democrats might give in to the President’s irrational exuberance for war again, as many of them did in 2003! This time it would be even worse for the Democrats because they are the majority party in both Houses and, therefore, are more responsible.

Even if the Democrats were deluded into thinking Congress can legally delegate the war power to the President with skimpy and ambiguous resolutions like those they wrote concerning Iraq, why would they even consider doing it again after they have been made to look so foolish by their misjudgment the last time our President decided it was time to start dropping bombs? Shouldn’t the Democratic leadership in Congress assert their strength by announcing immediately that there will be no new war without Congress’ solemn deliberation and declaration of war? They should go further and announce that no money will be appropriated for a military action against another nation if Article I, Section 8 has not been complied with. And shouldn’t that be the position of the Democratic Presidential candidates as well? If not, how do they make the case that they are less dangerous when it comes to the possibility of improvident wars than President Bush is?

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Posted at 12:17 PM, Sep 27, 2007 in Foreign Policy
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