Obama Pundit

by Obama Pundit
There was a point in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Democrats changed their nomenclature and started using the term ‘investment’ as a substitute for almost any kind of proposed spending.
Democrats had been successfully tarred and feathered with the ‘big spender’ label for quite a while and needed a way avoid being pigeonholed.  A decade [...]

by C. William Chattin
In an earlier post, I warned the Right to “be wary not to dwell on [Sotomayor's] dismissive treatment of Frank Ricci.”  Upon the Supreme Court issuing the Ricci v. DeStefano decision today and the media’s complete misunderstanding of it, I hereby withdraw my earlier admonishment.
The one and only thing that should be understood about this case as it [...]

by C. William Chattin
According to the A.P., President Obama has called the removal and exile of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya a “not legal” coup.  President Obama said that the United States still recognizes Zelaya as the President of Honduras, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the United States is sending delegation to Honduras [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector,
Procedural rules are often designed with substantive purposes; and the procedures of the Constitution quite clearly protect substantive rights.
For example, the Quorum requirement (Art. I, Section 5) prevents a tiny fraction of the legislature from passing laws affecting the entire populace.  Similarly, “bicameralism and presentment” — the process requiring all laws to [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
I would humbly ask: why even have a Constitution at all — save for some cursory document which outlined the branches of government and procedure for passing legislation?
Isn’t your proposal nothing more than a procedure for passing legislation (with a hefty crime attached for show)??
In any case, to respond to your humble [...]

by C. William Chattin
A big thank you to my new best friend, Iain Murray, who is championing the “read the bill” effort.  This entry from the Corner provides an overview of the effort (and links to the constitutional amendment I proposed on this site last week).
In fact, Iain has begun a web site dedicated to [...]

by Obama Pundit
Granted, we are only halfway through Barack Obama’s first year as President, but what, exactly, does he have to point to as a big success?
Mind you, a President usually can’t sprinkle pixie dust in the air and make things happen–although this was the impression Obama gave during the campaign–but given his relatively solid electoral majority [...]

by C. William Chattin
Hector,
If we take your argument –
[T]he American public has the power to vote out their legislators if they feel those persons are not performing competently or that their interests are not adequately represented.  The fact that they choose not to do so in such overwhelming numbers means that they are getting precisely [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
If members still couldn’t digest the bill, perhaps they shouldn’t be making the laws.  Just a thought.
Fair enough, and you are certainly entitled to your opinion.
For my money, the ultimate measure of any proposed Amendment is its actual effect.  Prohibition was not a failure because it lacked good intentions, serious consequences, or [...]

by C. William Chattin
While I share concerns about unknown and unintended consequences — and that goes for all legislation — in this case, the consequences seem more known than unknown.  Indeed, I would venture to say that the Founders would be shocked to learn of Congress passing behemoth 1200-page pieces of legislation that only a [...]

by C. William Chattin
OP,
The answer to your question is “yes, there would be teeth.”  The language of this version of the Amendment would require members of Congress to “swear under penalty of perjury.”  Obviously, if members perjure themselves in that regard, they would have committed a felony punishable by imprisonment.
The question is whether such perjury [...]

by Obama Pundit
There has been a clear drop in Obama’s approval ratings, but the mainstream media still continues to insist they are ‘really high’, as exemplified by this bit in Time:
Obama has so far been able to maintain high approval ratings.  Even though he’s showing some weakening in his approval rating, they overall remain very [...]

by Hector N. Fertig
This reads a lot like the “Read the Bill Act” from Downsize DC.
Making it a Constitutional Amendment gets around the Constitutional issues arising from the Speech or Debate Clause (Art. I, Section 6, Clause 1), but leaves it vulnerable to the Law of Unintended Consequences.  While this is precisely the way I [...]

by Obama Pundit
Bill, I really love your proposal.  I think it will have the desired effect of eventually making bills shorter, cleaner and easier to read.
Question:  Would there be a mechanism, some kind of teeth, to ensure that Congress actually abides by this amendment?
This seems to me to be the kind of amendment that 80 percent [...]

by C. William Chattin
“No bill shall be deemed to have passed the House of Representatives or the Senate unless such bill shall have received a majority of yeay votes from the membership of each House; yeay votes shall only be counted from members who swear under penalty of perjury that they have read the entirety [...]

by C. William Chattin
It’s been suggested to me by a few wise individuals that Americans’ perceptions of health care is not incongruous; rather most people like their health care but also recognize that the system is incredibly wasteful, overpriced and terrible at serving people without employer-based coverage.
First, I take their argument seriously.  Indeed, I’m sure [...]

by C. William Chattin
The incongruity between how Americans’ regard their own health care and how they perceive everyone else’s health care is perhaps the greatest disparity between perception and reality of all major “political issues.”  A joint survey conducted by ABC News, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the USA Today found that only “44% of [...]

The former NSC staffer and critic of Bush’s policy toward Iran recently wrote that the world needed to ‘get over it’ and accept that Ahmedinejad won the election.
Now, it looks like Leverett was horribly, abominably, disastrously wrong.  He was about as off-base on the Iranian election results as he was smug in his preaching about it, which [...]

by C. William Chattin
OP, as you say, Obama’s statement — save for his self-absorbed  “As I said in Cairo” clause — finally hit the right pitch and sentiment.  And, again reiterating you, the President’s biggest adorers have already found no distinction between his initial comments, “I’m troubled by violence,” “I understand the Iranian government is [...]

by Obama Pundit
What’s to account for Obama’s sudden drop in the polls in the last 10 days?  He is at 57 percent approval in Gallup and 53 percent in Rasmussen.  Other polls show drops as well, though not as steep.
I think the most likely explanation is that some moderates and conservatives who had been amenable [...]