President Obama appears to have reached the conclusion that obeying the Constitution is something reserved for lesser men.

What is to be done if the legislative branch will not fulfill the President’s agenda? In the boring old days of the Constitution, such an impasse would have meant lots of messy negotiating, compromising, and still the President might not get what he wanted. Settling for a ‘half of loaf’ may not be as much fun as governing by decrees, but even despite the liberties taken under “executive orders,” Mr. Obama’s predecessors have mostly understood that the Constitution gives the power to legislate, and the “power of the purse” to the legislative branch, not the executive.

When EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared that her agency would, in effect, simply circumvent the legislative process and impose what had been proposed under “cap and trade” legislation stalled in the Senate, we saw the first act of the unfolding drama. If Congress doesn’t act quickly enough to fulfill the whims of the Chief Executive, then his appointees will simply issue decrees that cause his will to become the law of the land.

The insanity of the EPA action was ignored in most of the elite circles. Carbon dioxide emissions are, quite literally, a fact of life. By EPA standards, every human being on the surface of the globe is part of the problem of global warming, consuming blessed oxygen and expelling the accursed carbon dioxide with a willful disregard to the way in which they were harming the Earth.

Now the curtain has opened on the second act. According to a report at FOXNews.com:

With global climate change talks veering off and precariously back on the tracks, the U.S. Thursday extended a $100 billion carrot to the rest of world.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Copenhagen Thursday the United States is willing to commit up to $10 billion a year by 2012, and would support a global fund of $100 billion a year to help developing nations deal with climate change, provided the nations here are willing live up to the 'transparency' demanded by the U.S.

The $100 billion gambit is intended to re-energize the pursuit of a global agreement — probably only minimally binding — to reduce greenhouse gases enough to keep the planet's temperature from rising by no more than 2 degrees centigrade by 2020.

Clinton said the money was "conditional," directing her words at China, which has refused to meet the monitoring and verification requirements requested by the U.S. when it comes to promises of carbon reductions. Without greater transparency, Clinton warned, the $100 billion offer would evaporate.

“Directing her words at China”? How about: “Directing her words at the Senate”? Australian PM Rudd recently learned how dangerous it is to simply presume lawmakers will automatically back your play. (Watching Rudd carry on in Copenhagen, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Parliament has virtually handed him his head, politically speaking, seems to manifest a cluelessness reserved for politicians such as his ally, Al Gore.) Neither the President nor his Secretary of State have the constitutional authority to simply throw $100 billion of the American people’s money into some “global fund.” If the Constitution has any standing in the way things are actually done in these latter days of the American Republic, pesky actions such as Senate ratification of a Copenhagen treaty and an actual bill authorizing the expenditure would have to go through the laborious process of being approved by both the House and Senate.

Public support for the Perpetual Candidate of “Hope and Change” is steadily eroding at home and central elements of his legislative agenda are bogged down in a Congress controlled by the President’s own party. One may be certain that these facts are not lost on China. The Chinese finance our nation’s debt and stock the shelves of our department stores; surely they understand the implications of the fiscal incontinence which has characterized Washington, D.C. in 2009. However, lest anyone else think that Obama and Clinton actually have the legislative support they need to back Clinton’s reckless pledge, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) is in Copenhagen to connect the dots. According to a FOXNews report:

The leading global warming skeptic in the U.S. Senate shocked reporters in Copenhagen with a dose of American reality with his prediction Thursday morning that the U.S. Senate will not pass a carbon ‘cap and trade’ bill, regardless of the commitment President Obama is expected to make here tomorrow.

“I am here to make sure the 190 countries here don’t go home with the false impression,” said sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. “The United States is not going to pass cap and trade.  It just isn’t going to happen. Its chances are zero.”

Inhofe said just 25 Senators would support the type of carbon reduction bill already passed in the House. ...

Surrounded by reporters from around the world, including many who believe global warming is real, Inhofe often looked like a lamb on his way to slaughter.

One reporter asked Inhofe “What do you tell the children who have to live in a nightmare world. What should we tell them about your country being a heroin addict on fossil fuel? Answer the question!”

“Most of you are on the far left side, so listen closely. I contend the consensus is not there, and it wasn’t there prior to Climate-gate.”

“Nothing binding will come out of here in my opinion, and if it does it will be rejected by the American people.”

The question is whether the approval or rejection of the American people, or their elected representatives in the House and Senate, are still active participants in the legislative process. The EPA and Hillary Clinton’s proclamation in Copenhagen seem to emerge from a form of government quite different from that which is inhabited by the likes of James Inhofe.

If you thought the first two acts in this drama have been ‘interesting,’ just wait for the third act when Barack Obama reads from his teleprompters tomorrow.

Rt. Rev. James Heiser has served as Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, while maintaining his responsibilities as publisher of Repristination Press, which he established in 1993 to publish academic and popular theological books to serve the Lutheran Church.  Heiser has also served since 2005 as the Dean of Missions for The Augustana Ministerium and in 2006 was called to serve as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). An advocate of manned space exploration, Heiser serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society. His publications include two books; The Office of the Ministry in N. Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum (1996) and A Shining City on a Higher Hill: Christianity and the Next New World (2006), as well as dozens of journal articles and book reviews.

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rprew

December 17, 2009

72.201.107.33

Votes: +10

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Obama Administration Ignoring Constitution in Copenhagen

So what else is new? Obama has ignored the Constitution in Iraq, Afghanistan, with regards to ACORN, TARP, healthcare, Cash for Clunkers, cap and trade, and a thousand other things. We aren't even positive he is obeying the Constitution with regards to his occupancy of the office of President!

The real question is, has Obama obeyed the Constitution in ANY area or his "reign"? If he has, it was probably an oversight.

Pat Henry

December 17, 2009

189.130.168.169

Votes: +3

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It almost moves one to pity

Here stand folks who've banked all their hard-won powitical capital on the likes of this kind of agreement being able to subjugate the whole world to their soul-weakening, elitist, bloodlust dreams and imaginations. And it is on the brink of crashing down, not to arise again for generations.

I remember how irked I got when my little brother bumped the card table on which I'd so carefully built my skyscapers (oblivious to the real issues going on in the house around me).

Psycho-cybernetics and such like miss a key truth: their really is a concept like natural law (no matter what you call it), and even the collective human consciousness is not enough to overthrow a greater spiritual reality and purpose, no, not even with the enlistment of the most powerful and malevolent countervailing spiritual forces.

DDW

December 17, 2009

173.74.213.85

Votes: +2

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We need to get

These arrogant fools out of government as soon as possible. Actually, yesterday would not be soon enough.

Dwight Lane

December 17, 2009

67.223.7.202

Votes: +4

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...

God help us in our endeavors to keep our liberties, but, just for the record, I will fight to my last breath by the grace of God and give all my money to end this push of tyranny. NO, I will not surrender! God bless all of you for understanding that individual rights inevitably and by honest means, always take care of the collective without government involvement. It is our job to take care of each other, it must not be legislated!!!

Strathy

December 18, 2009

216.198.139.38

Votes: +0

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Not so Sure

I'm not so sure that "if it does, it will be rejected by the American people" is correct. These are the people who rushed Obama into power with disciple-like worship. Further, a self-loathing attitude seems to have stuck many Americans who were once easily considered the biggest 'homer' country in the world. Will the self-loathing stop or will they continue to flagellate themselves for all the apparent damage they've done to the environment? The voice of reason has been lost to the clamor of the sheeple as they mill about, wringing their hands over the poor people in Bangladesh and Tuvalo. Are there enough realists left to stand up and stop the herd?

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