Chewing on the Constitution

[babylonsister]

Chewing on the Constitution
by Sean Gonsalves


Ever since my Uncle Johnny suggested a few years ago that I study the U.S. Constitution, I’ve been chewing on this country’s governing document like a cow’s cud.

And with all that chewing, I’ve developed this weird habit. At home, whenever I’m watching or listening to a political speech, I reach for one of my tooth-marked copies of the Constitution to see if I can put what they’re saying into some kind of Constitutional context.

Over the weekend, I happened to catch a Hillary press conference. There she was, looking all pretty and stately, surrounded by military men in their uniforms. She was talking about “national security” and “experience.” Again.

But this time, she used a few props to drive home the message in a visually memorable way, riffing off the now famous political ad. You know the one with the red phone ringing at 3 a.m. What caught my attention was when she said a president’s primary duty is to “defend the nation.”

I flipped to Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution and read the words she hopes to recite on January 20, 2009. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Ever wonder why the founding fathers — deliberators known to labor over the precise use and meaning of words — penned a presidential oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and not to protect and defend the nation or “the homeland?”

Yes, Article II, Section 2 says the “President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and the of the Militia of the several States.” But only Congress has the authority to declare war (see Article I, Section 8).

Why did she declare that a president’s primary duty is to “defend the nation” in the context of her “experience?” (And they say Obama doesn’t get specific enough. Is anyone going to ask her: what experience, exactly? Or, more importantly, how does that experience square with the Constitution?)

Maybe she’s playing on our collective constitutional ignorance. How else do you explain why she keeps talking about “experience” when, at the center of her record, is her vote to authorize an illegal war?

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/10/7578/

[Hissyspit]

1. Bush also said his number #1 duty was to defend the nation (not the Constitution).