Obama returning to the Constitution

The good news out of Washington yesterday was not limited to Obama's overturning of Bush's ban on embryonic stem-cell research.

There was a second presidential directive! This one, in the words of Daily Kos, "ordered all executive agencies to ignore the Bush Administration's signing statements unless they have been reviewed and approved by the Obama Justice Department. ...

"The full memorandum lays out the cases in which President Obama will avail himself of using signing statements (Surprise! the former Constitutional law professor intends to err on the side of assuming Congress knows what it's doing most of the time and he will afford the legislative branch the 'presumption of constitutionality!' And if confused about intent, he will actually consult with Congress! And this chief executive will actually be specific about the statutory concern he has and which section of the Constitution he's concerned with!)."

But here's the best part, deriving from a Q & A between reporters and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

Mr Gibbs: "This president will use signing statements in order to go back to what has previously been done, and that is to enumerate constitutional problems that either the Justice Department or the -- or legislative council here see as a potential problem through their reading, but not ask that laws be disallowed simply by executive fiat. I will get that --

"Q: So he feels that he's going back to the original intent of --

"Mr. Gibbs: Back to the original intent of a signing -- of signing statements to simply enumerate for those -- like I said, what problems might be inherent in a piece of legislation, without asking that the federal government disallow or ignore congressional intent."


We agree with this summation by Daily Kos: "All hail the U.S. Constitution. It seems to be coming back to life through some vigorous resuscitation."


I would also say that it is truly wonderful to have an administration that isn't trying to pull some sneaky, underhanded, dirty deals behind the backs of the American people, so that the press secretary can stand in front of a group of reporters, tell the truth, and make sense!