Speechgate: Liberal Cluelessness and Obama's Imperial Presidency

The 2012 Presidential Campaign is underway, and both parties are trying to get their message in front of the voters. The Republicans started with the Iowa Straw Poll and a long-scheduled series of debates between Primary contenders. Mr. Obama also started campaigning long ago, using the power of the Presidency to schedule fundraisers all over the nation.

Mr. Obama, with his recent request to schedule a speech to Congress, attempted to employ another Presidential prerogative for purely political gain. For several weeks, Mr. Obama had made references to his intention to announce a new plan to stimulate the economy and create jobs, so it was clear that he had ample opportunity to quietly contact Congressional leaders and negotiate a suitable date for a joint session. Instead, he chose to make a public announcement that he expected to address Congress on September 7 at 8:00 PM.

Democrats in Congress reacted with predictable delight in welcoming the President, but the Republicans were placed in a quandary. Republicans do want to know what, if anything, the President wants to do about the economy. Is he proposing a new stimulus to keep unemployment high, raise the tax burden, and dig the debt grave deeper? New regulations to drive out America's business? No one knows.

Speaker Boehner, however, sent a letter asking Mr. Obama to present his program on September 8, and the media has simply lit up about what is now called "Speechgate," with commentary about the disrespect being shown to Obama for refusing his request.

Much of the commentary displays two fundamental characteristics. One is liberal cluelessness. CNN's LZ Granderson exemplifies this in an opinion piece in which he states, "But here's the thing: (Obama is) president of the United States. He gets to call such meetings.... Not because Obama said so, but because the president of the United States said so." No, the President does not. Not only has he no right to dictate the time of such a meeting, he cannot "call" a meeting. Remember checks and balances? Three co-equal branches? Evidently not. Granderson rants on,

"By publicly requesting another day -- as opposed to privately approaching the White House with scheduling concerns -- Boehner has essentially announced what many Americans suspected the night Rep. Joe Wilson yelled "you lie" during the president's health care reform speech back in 2009. This GOP has no respect for Obama. There are members of the right who will stop at nothing to discredit him."

A President who wants to address Congress is expected to first privately approach Congress and work out a mutually acceptable date and time. Do you think Congress has the right to walk in and make demands on or conduct business at the White House or the Supreme Court whenever they want? Hint: no.

In even the most charitable light, the President blundered, not Congress. This was not a case of Boehner challenging Obama's authority, as the confused Granderson believes. Rather, it was a case of a power-grabbing President pretending to authority he does not have.

Which brings up the second characteristic. This request is characteristic of the extreme and pervasive disrespect Obama and his cohorts have and repeatedly show, not only for any who disagree with them, but for America's Constitution and her institutions. While the White House has asserted that they previously contacted Speaker Boehner about the date, the Speaker's office says not so. Somebody is not accurately stating the facts, and the Obama administration does not have an excellent track record in that regard.

America does not have an Imperial Presidency, and Obama has no authority to trample upon and dictate to the other branches of government. Furthermore, Obama should, but obviously doesn't, respect the political process. Obama should not seek to both upstage the long-scheduled GOP debates and simultaneously deprive the American people of an opportunity to hear his rivals speak. Open debate is a cornerstone of American politics, and as President, he has the benefit of incumbency to give him a platform for airing his positions. Yet, the current administration has no respect for this process at all. This is not a question of Obama rolling over for the GOP, as the clueless liberal pundits are framing it, but of his learning to respect the American Institutions and the American people rather than using the "presumed" power of his office for his personal political benefit.