Friday, October 11, 2013

"The word "leader" appears in the Federalist Papers 13 times"

"George Will Compares This Budget Deadlock To Past Conflicts"

INSKEEP: What do you think of President Obama's argument that the Republican strategy here, which some Republicans have described as focusing on crisis points - what do you think of the president's argument that that's changing the constitutional arrangement somewhat, trying to make one part of one house dictate the terms?

WILL: No.

INSKEEP: You're shaking your head.

WILL: This is the Madisonian scheme. Each institution shall be the jealous asserter of its prerogatives and try to maximize its power. I sometimes think that when he was at Harvard Law School, Mr. Obama cut class the day they got to the separation of powers, 'cause he seems to consider it not just an inconvenience but an indignity that although he got 270 electoral votes and therefore gets to be president, he didn't get everything. The Madisonian scheme is for the government to be hard to move. It's supposed to be. People look at Washington and say, oh gosh, this is so difficult. It's supposed to be difficult.

NPR

9 comments:

Mitch H. said...

Is this maybe the residue of having spent his formative years in Indonesia, where the Führerprinzip was a fact of political life, and presidents are floated out of office on a river of blood and violence?

Hagar said...

Just looking at the photos, I sort of suspect the affirmative action crowd has its own sandbox at Harvard, and Obama may not have taken some of the courses one would normally expect a Harvard Law graduate to have passed.

Calypso Facto said...

Thomas Sowell finally clearly makes the House Republican case, here.

Why isn't HE President?

chickelit said...

Calypso Facto said...
Thomas Sowell finally clearly makes the House Republican case, here.

Why isn't HE President?


Because Sowell only appeals to high information voters, who are a minority.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Leading from your behind isn't leading.

deborah said...

"he seems to consider it not just an inconvenience but an indignity"

Great line. That's why I love George Will.

Paddy O said...

When a position is based almost entirely on people's ignorance of government and history, it's a good sign the person arguing it is not someone you want to follow.

Lydia said...

So much of Obama is sheer performance that, for me, it's difficult to know when his taking offense is real and not just theater to impress his fans. Most of whom apparently are just fine with an authoritarian president, at least if it's Obama; so it's simply good politics for him to say how dare Congress.