Sadly, Biden had a good point when he made those comments. The Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Yet we've always ignored that for "small wars". We never declared war against an Indian tribe, the Barbary Pirates, or a Carribean nation, or our incursions in Mexico. Since 1941 there has been no declaration of war, its all covered under the Article 2 commander in chief clause. The War Powers Act was about as idiotic as "Don't Ask Don't Tell". You can start a war and figt for thirty days, and then the Congress is goining to say "whoops, sorry, our bad, we'll be leaving now"?

The thing is, BO is doing nothing diferent than many US presidents have done. The question is, will Congress retake its article 1 powers and enforce the idea that the President must come to them to declare war? Its doubtful, because no matter how ill advised this latest adventure is, its a tempest in a tea pot. Its not a war, it us using force in a limited way. It will end badly, but it doesn't change the fact that we have done this kind of thing since the beginning of the Republic. Its no different then Grenada, Panama, Bosnia or Kosovo. They were all bad ideas, but they never provoked a Constitutional crisis, just a lot of rhetoric.

FQ13