Silver Lining?

Is there an upside to having a President who is impatient, self-indulgent, intellectually lazy, easily frustrated, not terribly competent, and pathetically in need of love?

He sided with the Democrats on limiting the debt ceiling extension to only three months, and tying it to disaster relief.  Will Republicans in Congress go along?

He punted DACA to Congress, giving it six months to do something.  Will Congress do anything?

 Maybe.

For years now, we've watched the expansion of the imperial presidency.  We've watched as signing statements and executive orders have supplanted legislation while Congressional gridlock took root and metastasized.  Well, Congressional gridlock works when Congress can count on a strong Executive to keep the wheels of government turning.

What happens when the Executive Branch is in disarray, and the President is out-to-lunch?  Will Congress get its act together and reassert its Constitutional powers?

The single most important power Congress has abrogated to the Presidency is the power to make war.  Given that Our President's negotiating skills are somewhat less than advertised, do we dare  hope for enough genuine leadership among the time servers, corporate clients, and party hacks in Congress to avert catastrophe in Korea or the Middle East?  (A good start would be to child-proof that red button!)

Members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been either too fearful or too lazy to give us genuine representative government for far too long.  If they can't or won't do their jobs, they must be replaced with individuals who will.  Historically, there always is one group willing to take the reins when a government becomes too dysfunctional — and, sad to say, the most trusted leaders in government right now appear to be the generals.

The AUMF

Obama's request for Congress to give him Authorization for Use of Military Force against Islamic State, like most Obama proposals, has failed to fully satisfy anybody.  Since it is an Obama administration proposal, nobody should be surprised that it tries to skate adroitly among the holes in the ice.

Since the requested war powers would expire in three years, some of the dimmer lights in Congress may be able to convince themselves that they are regaining control of warmaking powers.  That's not the case, of course, because without Congressional approval, the prez already is making war in Syria and Iraq, and nothing in the current proposal stops him from continuing to make war wherever and whenever it seems politically acceptable — based on his torturous interpretation of the 2001 resolution against Al Qaeda.

Nothing would stop Hillary either, and she is more of a hawk than Barack.  Anyway, some meaningless piece of legislation will pass, supported by pitchfork waving Republicans and torch pumping Democrats, and Obama will have what he wants — a "bipartisan" endorsement of whatever he happens to do.  When everything gets screwed up, as it has a way of doing in the Middle East, it won't be only his fault.