Congress Starting To Go All Constitutional On Obama

I empathize with Congress trying to keep tabs on the Executive, but the War-Powers horse left through the open Constitutional gate on this issue a long, long, long time ago: since World War II, actually. The need to keep apace with the speed that nuclear weapons can be unleashed is a big part of this problem, but so too is Congress' damnable myopic irresponsibility when confronted with novel situations like surprise wars on the other side of the world. Congress Critters protect their own turf first, and do not think of the greater whole. It's a good way to protect their little horde of beans, and a good way to get people killed too. And it doesn't help that they are so fickle: eagerly promoting Executive overreach when their party has the White House and eagerly decrying it when they don't. Sad to say, we need a massive update to the Constitution, or a new Constitution altogether. Something more-flexible, that incorporates just the leaders of Congress in fast-moving situations. Maybe a hierarchical system. A system sort-of like we have in an informal sense right now. Time has moved on, and we haven't:

Gates spent most of his time during the hearing being grilled by Republican and Democrats alike about the administration's decision not to seek collaborative cooperation from Congress before the air strikes began, instead spending most of his time trying to secure international support for instituting a no-fly zone. Last night in a classified briefing with lawmakers on Libya, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Obama and the administration would not necessarily abide by any resolutions Congress might pass constraining the President's ability to take military action or continue it in Libya. She said only that the administration would keep Congress informed through reports and consultations. The statements enraged some administration critics who believe the White House has violated basic tenets of the 1973 War Powers Act, which require Congressional approval to engage U.S. military forces overseas combat. The last time Congress declared war was during WWII, and a long line of presidents have essentially ignored the act, arguing that it places unconstitutional shackles on the President's role as commander-in-chief. Congress "has been left out in the cold on this one," said Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), a longtime opponent of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There has been no consultation at all." "We read about it in the newspapers and then we ask questions about it," said Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH). "I think that's concerning to the Congress and I think it's concerning to the American people, and I believe rightly so."