Executive Power, Hillary Clinton and the Congress
Mark Schmitt points out a serious concern about Hillary Clinton's views on executive power:
I was . . . alarmed by the following passages:Mrs. Clinton’s belief in executive power and authority is another factor weighing against an apology, advisers said. As a candidate, Mrs. Clinton likes to think and formulate ideas as if she were president - her ’responsibility gene,’ she has called it. In that vein, she believes that a president usually deserves the benefit of the doubt from Congress on matters of executive authority..... . . [W]e have just gone through a period of the most staggering expansion of executive power in history, and I suspect that we don’t know the half of it. The setup that was the Iraq resolution, the manipulation of the executive branch itself in order to deceive Congress was one example of it. . . . The last thing we need at this moment is yet another president who "believes in executive authority and Congressional deference." We need a president who respects separation of powers and democracy. After all, the next president will not be our last.
I agree with Mark's concern but it requires a Congress willing to stymie Executive Power to check abuse of power by a President. A President Hillary Clinton asserting strong Executive Power is a concern of course. But Thomas Jefferson disclaimed any number of federal powers that he then used when President.
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