How Obama Struggled with Congress - Essay Example

Sur Obamas Struggle with Congress The Current Intervention in Libya and the War Powers Resolution President Obama is breaking the law by not consulting the congress; he is supposed to ask for authorization from the congress. Ironically, before President Obama became president of US, he said that a president working without consulting the congress was unconstitutional. Unfortunately, Obama is about to reach the deadline of 60 days, which was imposed by the Act of War Powers. Therefore, his administration is at every means making use of clever lawyers in a way of continuing the war in Libya. Obama is violating the law by unilaterally authorizing a military attack in Libya; even if the situation does not seem to stop the war, besides posing serious risks to the US like attacks by the Al Qaeda. The consultation requirements for states that the president should consult the congress before sending US military to hostile situations and these consultations should continue for as long as the military is in situations. Furthermore, the president himself should be present and he should also present all the necessary information concerning such situations. However, Obama neither consulted the congress nor presented such information. This has lefty him at loggerheads with congress, a situation that is likely to worsen the situations of US war in Libya. Therefore, Obama’s administration is slowly but clearly taking the steps of Bush, when it comes to dealing with foreign affairs and terrorists (Anonymous 2009, 17). The worst implication of such decisions is that it increases the chances of US having permanent war with the Arab communities. Under the Act of War Powers, president Obama had to get authority from the congress to continue the operations of US military in Libya. However, though he was to do so by Friday 20th may, 2011, he did not even ask for it. This means that he has disengage US military from Libya within 30 days, but it is likely that he may not heed to that requirement either. Some congress members, from the two parties, are not happy concerning Obama’s administration disregarding the law. This has presented him in dilemma horns because the congress strongly believe that the president has no powers to go into war alone, except under cases of likely or actual attack. The congress believes that he is disregarding the law because he clearly knows that if the congress was asked to authorize intervention for Libya, he would be rebuffed. President Obama and the congress have constantly been at war because of different interpretations of constitution concerning resolution of war powers. The different interpretations, specifically on the powers of Obama to send US military in the hostile Libya situation without war declaration or authority from the congress has caused a lot of controversy between Obama and the congress. Even if Obama, as US president, is the commander in chief of the US armed forces, had the power to send US military into war in Libya, such power are only limited in cases where it is only in defense of America, as opposed to foreign issues, such as the Libyan case (Anonymous 2009, 19). America has had such issues in the past for example in Iraq and Lebanon, and this lead to the enactment of the Act for Power Resolution, in order to ease conflicts between US presidents and the congress. In such a situations, according to Walt (2011, 23), it would be very easy for Obama’s advocates to convince the congress, since the war case is very strong and hence very clear why US needs to intervene. What Obamas administration should have done is to think long and hard on what they should do if Gadhaffi falls. This is because; we have seen that such contexts for revolutionary change, like in Egypt, are normally unpredictable, chaotic, and violent, hence creating mischief opportunities. Such dangers may arise in Libya, as it lacks political institutions, besides the people US is backing now settling scores with the loyalists. The same loyalty insurgency risks that sprung up in Iraq may occur in Libya. Obama is using the same war forces as President Bush did in Iraq’s the liberal interventionists want their decisions seem good, but only in retrospect. However, they should properly plan to make sure that Libya’s political transition is smoother than it did in Iraq. This means that US will survive longer than we think, and will be more costly than any one can ever think. Current interventions in Libya might continue the war between the western and Arab nations. For example, the case for Libyan intervention may cause very dangerous aspects, since it sends bad precedents to Iran and North Korea. It is now more likely that they will not abandon nuclear weapons and programs. Further more, other pariah nations may be forced to look for nuclear weapons in their struggle to do away with interventions from the West in the future (Walt 2011, 59). These are very serious implications that may make peace a historical aspect in the world. Therefore, Obama did not well think about his kind of intervention. Tit has revealed NATO alliance fractures by underlining European nations diverging interests. The other implication is that it has increased refugees tide and boarder control issues, which threatens to undermine free boarder policy of the European Union. Hat Obama should be doing is to defend the US boarders and attack only their target terrorists. Totally divorcing from foreign affairs and problems of the world would help foreigners and Arab nations to see that US is no longer concerned about them , and hence concentrate on their own problems and affairs. This is the only solution to this permanent war, Obama and congress issues on foreign affairs and the entrance to the end of social and economic cancer. The congress is not fully playing its role, since it is reluctant to object the decision, and Obama is playing his role as president as he assumes that as president he can easily get away with unilateral military action. Anonymous, (2011, 76) observes that if the congress is in need of asserting itself on Libya, it would pass a legislation that would cut off any funding of such operations, which are so far worth $750 million. On the other hand, it could propose a resolution that demands Obama to pull out US forces from Libya. Either step would effectively force the administration back to NATO mission. The Health Care reform of Obama in the context of the ongoing struggle between president and Congress Health care reforms in US has for many years been under the influence of politics. The main focus of Obama’s health care reforms has been coverage increase, decreasing the social burden and cost of healthcare, funding, insurance reforms, its own provision philosophy and government involvement. During his election in 2009, Obama promised to fully accomplish these reforms, something he has not successfully achieved, following his recent struggle with the congress. In relation to its GDP, America has the highest costs in healthcare. The specific and general reforms by the congress include independent review panels, comparative effective research, tax reforms, doctors’ incentives among others… critics and advocates of these reforms have mobilized US citizens to embrace their views but the particular demonstration occurs because leaders of the congress went back to their districts in 2009…..in a joint session with the congress, president obama described his healthcare reforms plan that include neutrality of deficits, banning discrimination of pre-existing conditions by insurance companies, formation of insurance exchange by small businesses and individuals, tax credits, malpractice reform projects, and independent commission to determine waste, fraud and abuse, among others (Copeland 2009, 27). Unfortunately, no cuts were agreed upon to guarantee the benefit f coverage in the bills that were presented to the congress. The congress describes that tax reforms on insurance premiums may affect their behavior. The congress said that it was hard for citizens to access quality and efficient services from the hospitals because there was no clarity on who would bears the health insurance cost. This could change the behavior of tax payers if they paid more insurance tax than their employers. Privatizing Medicare system bill was partially scored by the congress. Therefore, the congress has proposed health care reforms. These two acts are Affordable Health Care for America Act, and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but the senate rejected it. This aroused another controversy between the congress and Obama’s administration. Being a fundamental human right, health care reforms in US has faced several arguments from the congress, US government, critics and US citizens in general. Liberals advocate for Medicare and social security that fully satisfies the beneficiaries. Additionally, in 2009 session with the congress, President Obama argued that it was the moral responsibility of the government to ensure availability of quality health care to all citizens. However, republicans opposed Medicare savings that were proposed by the president because they believed they were more politically focused than for the peoples. In contrast to what had earlier been advocated for the publicly-funded health care program the officials of Obama’s administration said they would support the cooperative health insurance in response to great political unrest among democrats and congressional republicans and citizens in America. The approval of Obamas health care handling dropped to 49% from 57% in July and April 2009 respectively. Douthat, (2009, 43), says that the congress has opposed the prosed bill. They stated that the health care reforms were noble and hence needed legislation. They added that the reforms were troughs of bribery, loopholes and deals. They have therefore campaigned against it. Somehow, the polling data has been conflicting and the result depends on the way the question is asked. In January 2009, Douthat (59) found out that only 10% of American public had withdrawn their congressional support for the Obama’s health care reforms. When generically asked if they should propose or oppose the bill of health care the results show that the opinions still remain evenly divided but fluctuating within the error margin in 2009, September. By 2010, 82% of voters of Obama who voted Brown in, in Massachusetts strongly supported the public option (Douthat 2009, 76). Work Cited Anonymous. Time’s Up: Obama Ignores War Powers Act for Libya. 2011. Viewed on 25th May, 2011 from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-23/news/ct-edit-war-20110523_1_libya-war-war-powers-act-moammar-gadhafi. Copeland, Mike. Local Tea Party Members Reject Obama Health Care Plan. Edwards Waco Office. New York; New York Times, 2011. Douthat, Ross "Obamanomics and Health Care". The New York Times. December 17, 2009. Viewed on May 25th , 2010 from http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/obamanomics-and-health-care/. Retrieved Walt, Stephen. Twilight for Gadhaffi. 2011. Viewed on 25th May, 2011 from http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/13/twilight_for_qadhafi Read More