The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action. — 2007

My Take –  I agree with what he said in 2007.  Congress declares war.  The executive branch prosecutes wars, but it has to get an OK from the people’s representatives before it does so.   Apparently going to Congress over Libya wasn’t necessary, no matter how necessary it was before the President was elected.  By sneering at those who called him on it, the President spit upon over 200 years of tradition and good practice, including during times of national emergency, such as after Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  I just hope that Libya was an aberration, and not a portent of what we can expect in the future.  When a national leader has unfettered power to instigate wars, without even the rubber stamp of getting approval from the legislature, nothing will stop them from using and abusing that new power.

The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic. — 2008

My Take – As of today, we have over 16 trillion dollars in government debt.  If the first 42 presidents ran up 5 trillion, and Bush the Younger added another 4, which is horrendous, then where oh where did the other 7 trillion dollars come from?  According to Wikipedia, 32% of the total debt is held by foreign central banks, including China, Japan, the UK, Switzerland, and Russia.  That’s not a new phenomenon, but it’s a growing one.

Where did it go?

• UAW/GM/Chrysler bailout
• Solyndra and other ‘green energy’ snake oil projects
• Lavish lifestyles of the rich and elected
• Cash for Clunkers
• Stimulus packages of one stripe or another

And what has all of this debt brought us?  Well, the UAW made out like a bandit while wiping out the careers and retirements of thousands of non-union workers.  Solyndra and its ilk did OK for a little while until the basic laws of business and economics caught up with them.  Mrs. Obama certainly has a…. distinctive set of dresses to boast about, and how many families can say they went to castles in Spain and on African safaris at no cost to them?  The cost of a good used car is through the roof because a lot of the good used cars got turned into scrap to give the UAW another boost.  And billions upon billions have gone down the rat hole of “shovel ready projects”, complete with signs paid for with borrowed money to trumpet how much pork was coming home.

Better people than me have said it, but comparing this administration’s spending to that of a drunken sailor is an insult to the drunken sailor, since he at least stops spending when he’s out of money.