Separation of Powers? Bah! Promise and Peril of the Executive State

The Senate failed to ratify the Kyoto agreement during the Clinton Administration. This was later blamed on George W. Bush. As if he had the power to force the Senate to vote to harm the economy.

Now, lots of people also seem to think that Obama has a great deal of power to negotiate in Copenhagen and beyond without congressional approval, and they're apparently right, according to a report discussed at the link. But that power comes with risks to the President.

What we have here is the modern executive state. And the tale of how so powerful an executive arose is not really complicated: Congress and the Supreme Court conspired to create it. A century ago, progressives began viewing the Constitution’s checks and balances not as protections against overweening power but as impediments to enlightened government — the kind of government that would one day be used to “save the planet.” Since the New Deal, Congress has delegated ever more powers to the executive branch without much guidance as to how they are to be used. And a supine Court, cowed originally by Franklin Roosevelt’s threat to add six new members, has gone along, in the name of “democracy” and judicial modesty, even as the expanding government has looked less and less democratic.

Still, some democratic controls are still in place. . .

If Obama goes too far, Congress or the courts could become involved. But the power of foreign governments not to cooperate with Obama is an even greater PR risk to the President than any potential domestic action to limit his power. China is asserting new-found power. Reprise SNL. Sort of crude, but makes a point. Likewise Ace, though one quote concerning Obama's "unprecedented" non-binding agreement is cogent:

There is no binding part of this deal. That's why China, India, etc., have agreed to it. It doesn't require them to do anything.

Instead, it asks countries that are stupid enough to slit their economic throats to do so, so that India and China and so on can reap the rewards

Peril from the American Left: A lot of people thought that if Obama came to Copenhagen, he would surely be able to bring the world together on Global Warming. Some Progressives are disappointed in Obama's lack of messianic power to bring to pass a binding agreement between the leaders of the world's contries - rich and poor, free and unfree:

This is a declaration that small and poor countries don't matter, that international civil society doesn't matter, and that serious limits on carbon don't matter. The president has wrecked the UN and he's wrecked the possibility of a tough plan to control global warming. It may get Obama a reputation as a tough American leader, but it's at the expense of everything progressives have held dear. 189 countries have been left powerless, and the foxes now guard the carbon henhouse without any oversight.

Wow. The reality-based community isn't very reality-based sometimes.

History and Future of Progressivism: Four intellectual forerunners of Obama-style progressivisism, plus comedy gold from John Kerry. And from President Obama, if you follow the last link.