Obama & The Law

VDH lobs several bombs in the direction of the Obama Administration. They are ideological, but more importantly they are significant legal questions. You need to read the whole thing. Here is a salient passage:

Here the question is not the usual Obama hypocrisy that has seen him demagogue and damn Guantamo, preventative detention, tribunals, renditions, the Patriot Act (just signed by a former critic via computerized autopen from the UK no less) and Predators—only to expand or embrace them all. Rather, the problem is a question of legality itself.

Is the War Powers Resolution the law of the land or not? Or are we to assume a progressive president is complying with both UN resolutions and an Arab League mandate, and therefore, as the good internationalist and Nobel Laureate, sees no reason to consult, as American law requires, his own elected U.S. Congress—the latter a more suspect and reactionary body that does not enjoy the moral stature of the UN or the Arab League?

Hmm.