John Bolton and John Yoo wrote a column that was is yesterday’s NYT entitled: Restore the Senate’s Treaty Power.
They are worried about the in-coming President using executive agreements with foreign governments concerning matters such as the environment. They argue for the proper role for the Senate in the process of making binding foreign policy agreements with other states:
THE Constitution’s Treaty Clause has long been seen, rightly, as a bulwark against presidential inclinations to lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments. The clause will likely be tested by Barack Obama’s administration, as the new president and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, led by the legal academics in whose circles they have long traveled, contemplate binding down American power and interests in a dense web of treaties and international bureaucracies.
This is, of course, remarkable to anyone who has been paying attention for the last seven-plus years, as Woo and Bolton both have been major proponents of the unfettered expansion of executive power in regards to foreign policy. Now the new administration hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and they are rediscovering that the Congress has constitutional prerogatives in this arena.
Even better, they conclude their piece by calling for Republicans to “join Mr. Obama in advancing a bipartisan foreign policy.” Yes, you read that right, Bolton and Yoo are calling for a bipartisan foreign policy. Many things come to mind in regards to this, but specifically it takes me back to Bolton’s recess appointment to be UN Ambassador and the fight with the Senate over his confirmation when Bush re-appointed him. There was no bipartisanship there, nor was there a lot of extolling of the Senate’s role in foreign policy. Instead, there was a lot of vitriol and political wrangling about how the Senate Democrats were taking away the president’s powers (see, for example, here, here and here).
Ah well. I must confess, I expected a lot of Bush supporters to find religion regarding executive power again once a Democrat was in office, but I thought they’d at least wait a few months.
h/t: Sullivan
Sphere: Related Content
January 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Well, we knew these guys had no shame; I guess they’ve learned that even the pretense of shame would only hinder their careers.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am
[...] PoliBlog, Steven Taylor responds to Bolton & Yoo’s call for executive restraint: This is, of course, remarkable to anyone [...]
January 5th, 2009 at 11:31 am
[...] from his new digs at FP (congrats to Dan, Marc and the others who made the move), seems to share my skepticism over Bolton and Yoo’s conversion to the Concerned Citizens for the Proper Role of the [...]
January 5th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
The Senate’s treaty-making ability has been eroding for decades. For instance, fast track trade legislation — which as far as I can tell involves agreeing with another country to each “unilaterally” pass particular laws at the same time so that what amounts to a treaty doesn’t get handled like a treaty and isn’t actually called a treaty — was first created in 1974.
But, yes, it’s silly for people to get religion based largely on who’s in power. The argument is effectively “we’ll handle this power responsibility when we’re in charge, but they won’t when they’re in charge.”
January 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
In my experience, some variant of the following:
…was remarkably effective at ending discussions of this topic. Unfortunately they weren’t the discussions that really mattered.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Comment by Max Lybbert: “But, yes, it’s silly for people to get religion based largely on who’s in power. The argument is effectively “we’ll handle this power responsibility when we’re in charge, but they won’t when they’re in charge.””
The Bush administration was not being irrational; the combination of 9/11 + the advantage that the GOP had because it is the party of the economic elites + the post-Vietnam theory that all GOP politicians are War Heroes while all Democratic politicians are Draft-Dodging Scum did have us in a situation where the GOP could get away with far more than the Democratic Party could. Compare Iran-Contra to Whitewater, and the Bush II administration to the Clinton administration.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Oh, I forgot:
Dr. Taylor: “Ah well. I must confess, I expected a lot of Bush supporters to find religion regarding executive power again once a Democrat was in office, but I thought they’d at least wait a few months.”
Heck, I expected them to wait until Obama was in office for a day or two, and they’re doing while the Bush-King is still in office.