President Obama: ‘I Was Against Executive Privilege Before I Was For It’
The Democrats are accusing Republicans of being political in issuing a contempt citation to Eric Holder because of his refusal to hand over additional documents in the Fast and Furious case. Of course the Republicans are being political. Both sides are political. Let’s everybody admit that politics is involved in everything a politician does. We’re not stupid, at least not all of us.
While Executive Privilege is not mentioned in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that the principle is there in the Separation of Powers doctrine. The problem for President Obama is that Eric Holder has repeatedly said that Fast and Furious didn’t have anything to do with the White House. If this is true, then how can the President claim Executive Privilege? In the end, the courts might have to rule on whether the Republicans will get the documents they want.
I hope Eric Holder does NOT resign. See why here.
Eric Holder is not doing his job. It’s that plain and simple. He refuses to defend the laws that he took an oath to uphold. Here’s how the New York Times states it:
Mr. Holder, a recurring lightning rod for conservative anger, has repeatedly tangled with House Republicans and been associated with some of the administration’s most liberal policies, including refusing to defend a law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages, challenging an Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigrants and invoking civil rights laws to block Republican-led efforts to impose voter photo ID laws.
In an interview with Larry King in 2007, before he was elected resident, President Obama called for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He criticized Gonzales because he was acting as “the president’s attorney” and “not the people’s attorney.”
This is an important point. The oath to uphold the law should trump politics. The family of the slain border agent who was killed with one of the guns that was sent to Mexico as the result of Fast and Furious program wants answers. By refusing to release the documents, Holder is acting as the President’s attorney, the very thing Obama once criticized, and not the people’s people. Here’s part of what the family of slain Border Agent Brian Terry’s mother and father wrote in a statement:
“Attorney General Eric Holder’s refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama’s assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth.”
In that same interview with Larry King, then Senator Obama went on to say this about the Bush Administration exercising Executive Privilege over the firing of attorneys:
There has been a tendency on the part of [the Bush] administration to try to hide behind and executive privilege every time there’s something a little shaky taking place. The [Bush] administration would be best served by coming clean on this. There doesn’t seem to be any national security issues involved. . . .
It’s rather ironic that while the Attorney General and President Obama are stonewalling over releasing the Fast and Furious documents, on Tuesday (June 19) “the Obama Administration filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission demanding that Karl Rove’s Super PAC, ‘Crossroads GPS,’ disclose its list of private donors.” The law gives Crossroads GPS the right to keep the names of its donors private. The Super PAC American Crossroads does disclose its donors each month.
One would think by this that the Democrats don’t have similar relationships with PACs. Well, you would be wrong: Priorities USA Action, the monthly reporting Super PAC, and Priorities USA, the non-disclosing nonprofit.