PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
Well he's partially right but mostly wrong. He shouldn't ignore legislation that goes against the Constitution, he should veto it.
Don't you miss the good old days of Bush's "unitary executive" presidency? The left got its panties in a twist every time Bush signed a bill and issued a signing statement listing his objections. They tried to outdo each other in outrage when talking about "dictatorship" and the like whenever these signing statements were published.
Sometimes it was even front page news in the New York Times and Washington Post. "Balance of Power!" "Unitary executive!" "Bush is Hitler - or Worse!"
American Thinker Blog: Obama signing statement on war funding bill: Left is curiously silent
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Sworn in on January 20th, he waited until March 11th to issue his first Signing Statement.
The White House - Press Office - Statement from the President on the signing of H.R. 1105
The left is "curiously silent" because thus far it is a single event and not (yet) a trend. That was a good graph that Maggie Mae posted. Puts it into a bit of context.
I thought it was an informative graph, but the context is unclear.
Did President Bush do something that showed he was more concerned with the direction the Congress was going? Was he therfore showing insight and forethought?
He clearly did not invent signing statements, nor have they been found to be illegal, so what do you glean form the volume of same?
My friend across the aisle claims someone else told him what to write, but remember they said the same about Ronald Reagan until his handwritten diaries were found.
And, there were other Obama signing statements:
Sworn in on January 20th, he waited until March 11th to issue his first Signing Statement.
The White House - Press Office - Statement from the President on the signing of H.R. 1105
The following refers to his Signing Statement of June 27th :
Obama included a five-paragraph signing statement with the bill, including a final paragraph that outlined his objections to at least four areas of the bill.
President George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his use of signing statements, declaring he'd ignore some elements of legislation by invoking presidential prerogative.
Obama Issues Signing Statement On War Spending BIll