The frayed relationship somehow frays further.
POLITICO reports on the Senate GOP’s call for a public hearing on the prisoner swap involving Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but it’s a comment from Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss — who is retiring, mind you, and has been identified as a sort of “moderate” in his later years — that’s the eye-catcher here.
“The law says they ought to give us 30 days’ notice; if the president thought that was unconstitutional or an invalid law he shouldn’t have signed the bill. He knew very well he was required by law to give us 30 days notice and he didn’t do it,” Chambliss was quoted as saying. “I don’t believe a thing this president says now.”
The quote pertains to the Bergdahl situation, sure, but it can also be applied to the wider relationship between congressional Republicans and the White House. The Left has unloaded on the GOP for “politicizing” just about every Obama administration misstep, even now the prisoner exchange. But that word from Chambliss, “believe,” should be taken at face value.
Consider the IRS’ targeting of tea party-affiliated groups, which has sowed distrust among Republicans; the White House’s unilateral actions on Obamacare implementation and its irregular release of data to the public; alleged inconsistencies between the White House’s public and private Benghazi narratives; and now something like the Bergdahl controversy, wherein lawmakers weren’t notified of the release of the five Taliban leaders until after it had occurred (and even lefty legal thinkers are saying simply that the president broke the law).
Saying that Republicans have “politicized” such things (this being only a partial list) is a copout. More relevant is the absolute truth that from the angle of institutional trust, it’s become difficult for Congress, especially the GOP faction of it, to buy the White House line and believe it’s operating within the scope of its power.
Just remember: this is the White House that is poison-ivy-itching to run around Congress when it can. The policy-oriented “year of action” can’t be conflated with a national security issue, granted — but because the president has previously staked out public ground that the legislature is his adversary, executing the Bergdahl trade without prior congressional notification is just another strike against trust of the executive branch. And we’re on the umpteenth strike of a three-strike count at this point.
