Democrats are being hypocritical about Trump's war powersDemocrats don't really have much ground to stand on when they criticize President Trump for flexing too much muscle on national security. The Democrats, along with their opponents, have been part of the bipartisan push for expanding executive power since World War II.
But now some are up in arms about the Trump administration's recent missile strikes against Syria. Given that there is no clear threat to the national interest, they argue that Trump needs to request authority from Congress to undertake this mission. Several Democrats have insisted that if the president doesn't seek permission, then he is exceeding his constitutional power.
Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, praised the missile strikes in Syria as an appropriate response to the regime's use of chemical weapons. But he also said that "military force against Assad can only continue in the long term with congressional approval." .....
......But presidents from both parties have made a series of decisions that gradually weakened the role of Congress in shaping national security decisions while granting the White House much greater leeway to decide when and how to use America's military power. ......
......Even after the passage of the War Powers Resolution in 1973, which was meant to reassert congressional war-making power, presidents have continued to act with a relatively free hand. Although President Obama was more sensitive than most to the impact of this approach, he didn't do much to move away from the wartime framework used to fight terrorism.
Obama followed the plan adopted by President George W. Bush after 9/11 when Congress granted the president to "use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." That authorization has been used to justify drone strikes. .....
......When Democrats blast Trump, it's hard for many Americans -- including liberals who have a genuine problem with what the President is doing -- to take them seriously. Both parties have been participants in vastly expanding executive power on national security and complicit in standing by as this occurred.
To be sure, there have been some critics. A small group of Democrats unsuccessfully sued President George H.W. Bush when he sent troops to oust the Iraqis after the invasion of Kuwait.
Politicians in both parties have created a presidency with immense authority to use military force without any substantive checks on power. So if Democrats feel that President Trump has too much freedom to use force as he sees fit, they might want to take a look in the mirror and evaluate some of the historical decisions they themselves have made.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/16/opinions/democratic-hypocrisy-on-war-power-zelizer/index.html
