Obama in 2007: 'The President Has No Constitutional Authority to Attack Other Countries'

Well, how things have changed in four years.  In 2007, candidate Barack Obama was making political hay out of the Iraq war as best he could, slamming President Bush for his actions.

Amongst other things, then-Senator Obama complained that Mr. Bush attacked a country that, according to Mr. Obama, was not a "direct threat" to the United States.  But why explain it when you can read his very words.  This statement from Obama is from an interview with The Boston Globe in December of 2007:

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch.

Well.  Hmm.  You know, I could swear that President Obama acted without the consent of our Congress to bomb Libya.

Hypocrite

Candidate Obama was simply all about scoring political points.  That's why he said the above, to attack Bush and scream "Bush's fault."  And that's why he said this about Saddam Hussein, but not about Maummar Gaddafi:

Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about [this person]. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.... The world, and the... people, would be better off without him. 

But I also know that [he] poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors...and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

And that is why he is a hypocrite.

Please bookmark!