John Nichols: Obama and Biden bode well for Constitution

[cali]

John Nichols — 11/20/2008 5:28 am

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden are supposedly very different pieces of the Democratic puzzle. Obama is the relative newcomer to Washington, the change agent. Biden is the senior "man of Washington," the old hand who can make change a reality. But Obama and Biden have one thing in common: They've both done stints as constitutional law professors. Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School -- along with brilliant former jurist and liberal Congressman Abner Mikva -- while Biden has for many years taught at Widener Law School in Delaware.

This unique pairing intrigues New York Congressman Jerry Nadler. "(Isn't this) a change?" muses Nadler, who chairs the Constitution subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. "After eight years of trashing the Constitution, we have an administration that actually respects the document."

Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin, a House Judiciary Committee member, says that "if we are not able to hold the current administration to account, then when this administration hands over its responsibilities and authorities to a President Obama and to a Vice President Biden, they will responsibly choose not to exercise some of the powers that we would argue were overreaches by this administration. I would hope, also, that they would choose to help us to renounce the activities -- torture and rendition, spying on American citizens without a warrant, outing CIA agents, whatever it is -- that have been identified as abuses. Given their grounding in constitutional law, they should be inclined to do that."

So maybe when a new president and vice president swear oaths to defend the Constitution, they might actually mean it?

"Exactly," says Baldwin

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/315177

[Sinistrous]

1. Until there is aggressive prosecution of Bush, Inc. for war crimes and treason,

there will be no Constitution for Obama and Biden to defend. The reigning obscenity has shredded what was once called "the miracle, that is the Constitution of the United States".

[cali]

2. I disagree. Hyperbole is what you're bathing in.

What is needed is an administration that reverses the constitutional damage done. What is needed is a restoration of constitutional principles. And quite frankly, like most ideological purists you have a sadly skewed view. What's needed re bush inc, are ongoing real investigations, and wherever they lead, they lead. You want results with no fucking constitutional underpinnings at all. I find that ironic as all hell. And yeah, this country can recover even without bushco prosecuted for treason.

[secondwind]

3. I would settle for a "footnote" in the pages of our history books, a

footnote that Congress can come up with, to describe how awful this past administration has been.

If you do not condemn in some fashion, we will be doomed to repeat it.

[cali]

4. We're always doomed to repeat history in some fashion or another

that's the pattern of human history. Having said that, I'm all for continuing investigations into the malfeasance of the bush administration. Senator Leahy, for instance, has reitierated his committment to continuing investigations of malfeasance in the Justice Dept. And I believe that more and more information about the criminal actions undertaken by bushco, will be revealed in the coming years.

[Sinistrous]

5. "...no ... constitutional underpinnings at all" -!? Do you even know what

"prosecution" means? You, know, investigations, trials, juries, judges, verdicts, sentences and all that. "Prosecutions" are founded on constitutional principals. Or are you conflating prosecution with persecution?

"no constitutional underpinnings" -- You're babbling.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Was there EVER any doubt that Obama and Biden would be GOOD for the US Constitution?

There certainly never was on my end. I'm frankly excited about the idea, after 8 years of utter lawlessness by Bushco, about having (former) CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSORS as President and Vice-President.

:toast:

Interestingly enough, I think that even the Republicans will suddenly develop a yearning for a slightly less "Unitary Executive" Presidency.
:eyes: