What's with the President?

I was listening to Democracy Now July 26th show with the President of the American Bar Association, listen here, and their announcement about disagreeing with the President over the signing statements he uses with bills passed by Congress. The ABA believes it's not only illegal for the President to simply dismiss laws passed by Congress with a letter, it's also in violation of the Constitution. And these folks represent the lawyers in our country!

So what's a signing statement? It's a letter the President attaches to a bill he signs expressing his concerns about the bill, but it's still law as the President is signing it. But this President attaches letters which states he disagrees with provisions in the law, and won't follow it or will ignore it, and in both cases, he often states that it either impedes his work or violates his rights as President. That's what the ABA is implying, by the President choosing which laws he wants to obey and abide by, and which he doesn't have to follow.

As Keith Jackson would say, "Whoa there Nelly!" Football had Wrong Way Corrigan, we have Wrong Way Bush, the President who decides he's above all this law thingy we all have to follow. He's written over 800 signing statements, more than the 600 of all the past Presidents combined, and those Presidents only disagreed with the law they were signing. The ABA made a more serious case for not just the statements, but their effect.

In the interview, the ABA President said this is the first President to ignore, disregard, or more seriously, violate laws with the signing statements. Our President is saying that the laws Congress passes are subject to his discretion. That's what the veto power is about. He doesn't have to tell them, or the American people, why. He simply says I can and will decide what's right for me to do, and I have the Justice Department with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to say I'm right. Whew, we elected him, well, some did, I didn't, and now he's above us?

I think Mr. Bush needs to read two documents. One is the Constitution. Like Duh, that's obvious. Two is the "Idiots Guide to the Presidency". As an IT person said on a newsgroup recently, "RTFM." What does this President not get about obeying the laws and following the Constitution? It's not about the "War on Terror", he simply thinks the President is King, but doesn't realize hiding behind a cloak of secrecy eventually fails. He should read the tale, "The Emperor has no clothes."

Anyway, that's my rant after listening to the story. It's worth the time to listen. It will make you angry about what's happening in Washington D.C. and our President pretending to be a leader. And I forgot, he doesn't read.