What is all this nonsense about us electing a “commander in chief”?

[kpete]

To Hell with the Chief!
By Dave Lindorff

What is all this nonsense about us electing a “commander in chief”?

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The idea that Americans, when they go to the polls, whether in a primary or in a general election, are choosing a commander in chief, as our feckless media pundits are wont to tell us, or as candidates running for president are fond of saying in these trying times, is not only overwrought rhetoric—it is downright dangerous, and idiotic too.

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America doesn’t need a commander in chief. It needs a wise, level-headed leader who has the courage to acknowledge that you can’t solve problems by throwing ordnance at them, the courage to tell the citizens of the country that we don’t need to spend $1 trillion a year on war and preparations for war, and that in fact, if we cut that spending by two-thirds or three-fourths, we’d still have the mightiest military in the world—and more importantly, a much stronger society and economy.

What America needs is a president who sees the military as an option of last resort, not an option of first resort.

Let’s banish this commander in chief nonsense from the campaign. Bush has already made the title laughable. That is the response we should have when we hear someone say that title in public

A guffaw.
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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. HIs latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2007 and now available in paperback). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

more at:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/30814

[jlake]

1. Out there. That kind of talk ain't gonna win a GE

[stillcool]

3. out there?

who are those people?

[Cassandra]

2. I think that came out of Rudy's mouth...

since that was the office he was running for.

[Adsos Letter]

4. I agree with just about everything you said, except...

unfortunately, CIC (which is one of a president's functions) is one of the hats she is going to have to wear immediately regarding Iraq/Afghanistan...people do need to remember that...but it damn well isn't the only hat she is going to wear...the method and course we follow disentangling ourselves from Iraq/Afghanistan are important ones, and have immediacy. The fact that she has factored in the safety of Iraqi's who have assisted the US tells me she has given it a lot of though...and what we do afterwords is just as important.

I think she would be good for the country...

[TahitiNut]

5. We don't really.

We elect Electors who, when assembled, elect a President (and Vice President). That President is a "Commander in Chief (of the Army)" if and only if Congress raises and funds an Army, such funding not to exceed two years.

Funny how just reading the Constitution dispels some of these fictions. :shrug: To bad we don't INSIST that the Constitution acutally be complied with.

[Adsos Letter]

6. ya know...yer right...

I've gotten so used to thinking of this guy as directing the war that I have allowed myself to forget the real function of the seperation of powers...

Thanks for the reminder, TahitiNut...

:hi: