Congress? What's That?

President and constitutional scholar (in much the same way that Kim Jong Il is a human rights scholar) Barack Obama explained to the American public that our involvement in Libya would last "days, not weeks" and then the US would move into a supporting role. That was on March 18, 2011. Never mind that only Congress has the power to declare war. Ignore for a moment that the War Powers Act allows for a defensive war without Congressional authority and I have my doubts that Libya posed an imminent threat to the United States. Even should we all pass over the legality of bombing Libya back to the Stone Age (it is currently in the Bronze Age, as far as I can tell) there is the matter that the War Powers Act, the claimed authority for the bombing of Libya, only allows for 60 days of unauthorized war. President Obama himself once said "the president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation".

So our scholarly President, when confronted about requesting Congressional approval to continue the mission beyond 60 days simply decided Congress doesn't matter. At least President Bush consulted Congress before Iraq and Afghanistan. The President decided that our military sovereignty rests squarely with the international community.

I guess the theory is the President doesn't have the authority, unless it's this President.