Why is President Obama even bothering to ask Congress for a legally tardy Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIS? It\u2019s a war he\u2019s already fighting \u2014 and which he clearly intends to keep fighting, regardless of whether the authorization goes through.<\/p>\n
If passed, the AUMF is at most \u201ca thumbs-up from Congress for things that the military has already been doing in the Middle East,\u201d as New York\u2019s Jaime Fuller puts it. Far from limiting executive power, it gives Obama a blank check for war. But here\u2019s the thing: To all appearances, he\u2019s perfectly willing to write that check himself if he feels the need, yet doesn\u2019t trust others to have that same power.<\/p>\n
Consider this little-noted incident from the 2012 campaign season: Faced with the possibility of a Mitt Romney presidency, the Obama White House began to press for an explicit set of rules for drone warfare. \u201cThere was concern that the levers might no longer be in our hands,\u201d an anonymous administration official explained to The New York Times, which noted tellingly that \u201c[t]he effort, which would have been rushed to completion by January had Mr. Romney won, [would instead] be finished at a more leisurely pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama trusts himself to wage war without clear legal boundaries. He feels a little squeamish about entrusting that same power to a Republican. And as a result, his decision-making process about whether a particular power should be granted to his office is not so much about ethical and constitutional issues as about who will wield that power.<\/p>\n