Nelson Lund
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:39:07 -0800
With respect to the last point, it would seem to require a novel notion of fairness to say that it's unfair to criticize a President for showing a lack of political judgment.
Nelson Lund George Mason Miller, Darrell (mille2di) wrote:
But what if the President stepped aside from the details of the bill precisely in the (perhaps naïve) belief that the House is the part of government that is actually supposed to directly reflect the will of the people. Reagan-like he says "here's my big policy goal, you in the House, with your fingers most on the pulse of the will of the people, go forth and do the people's work." (This would seem to me to be close to what Article II requires in terms of "recommendations", as Professor Lund has indicated).More broadly, is it fair to criticize the President for acting in a manner consistent with Constitutional design when it shows a lack of political judgment? *From:* conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] *On Behalf Of *Rosenthal, Lawrence*Sent:* Friday, January 29, 2010 3:58 PM *To:* Steven Jamar *Cc:* Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu*Subject:* RE: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of RepresentativesThis strikes me as quite unfair criticism of Rep. Cantor. In context, it seems clear to me that his point is not that President Obama did something improper by leaving the crafting of the health care legislation to Congress, but that he took a course of action that was politically imprudent, and which reflects poorly on the President's judgment. Surely he is correct on that point. Congressional support for any major piece of legislation is sure to collapse if it becomes sufficiently unpopular, and in that respect, if the President chose to embrace health care reform as his own political priority (as he did), it would have been politically prudent to ensure that the bill did not become so laden with special interest provisions that it would become a political liability. That, of course, is precisely what happened to the bill (although the deal-cutting actually seems to have been much more problematic in the Senate than the House). In retrospect, this seems to me to be an entirely fair criticism of the President's approach.Larry Rosenthal Chapman University School of Law*From:* conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:conlawprof-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] *On Behalf Of *Steven Jamar*Sent:* Friday, January 29, 2010 12:37 PM *Cc:* Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu*Subject:* Re: Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of RepresentativesPaul,I'm sure Cantor knows -- and that Darrell's point is correct -- Cantor is engaging in cynical campaigning (is there any other kind?) to undermine Obama. If Cantor were Majority Whip, I'm sure we'd find him complaining about Obama trying to usurp the proper constitutional function of the House by being too involved in the legislation process.It is just substantively nonsense, cynically done for political gain.Of course the President has a huge role to play in legislation -- including directing it. And some Presidents (e.g., Bush II, Lyndon Johnson) play that role much more vigorously than others (Eisenhower, Carter, even Reagan).No. He understands what he is saying, why he is saying it, and is clearly doing what has become (and has been in the past) the norm for some politicians -- make points, not policy.SteveOn Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 3:19 PM, Paul Finkelman <paul.finkel...@yahoo.com <mailto:paul.finkel...@yahoo.com>> wrote:Last time I knew the job of the House of Representatives WAS to write legislation. I guess Cantor does not understand Article I of the US Constitution. It is partisan, but sadly, it is also incredibly dumb---- Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f)paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu <mailto:paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu>www.paulfinkelman.com <http://www.paulfinkelman.com>------------------------------------------------------------------------*From:* "Miller, Darrell (mille2di)" <mille...@ucmail.uc.edu <mailto:mille...@ucmail.uc.edu>> *To:* "Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu <mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu>" <Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu <mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu>>*Sent:* Fri, January 29, 2010 2:43:38 PM *Subject:* Outsourcing Legislation from WH to the House of RepresentativesFrom Politico, full link here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32192_Page2.html/Cantor criticized Obama for last year's "outsourcing of the legislative activity from the White House to Nancy Pelosi here in this House," which he said has resulted in "a bill shift and an agenda shift way to the left and outside the mainstream of this country."/To me, this seems like a fairly gross exploitation of people's ignorance of our system of divided government, and an indictment of partisan gerrymandering which makes this kind of statement politically resonant.Darrell A.H. Miller Assistant Professor of Law University of Cincinnati College of Law PO Box 210040 Clifton Avenue & Calhoun Street Cincinnati, OH 45221-0040 v: 513-556-0133 f: 513-556-1236 e: darrell.mil...@uc.edu <mailto:darrell.mil...@uc.edu>faculty page: http://www.law.uc.edu/faculty/profiles/miller.phpSSRN:http://ssrn.com/author=1107305_______________________________________________To post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu <mailto:Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprofPlease note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.-- Prof. Steven Jamar Howard University School of LawAssociate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) Inc.------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Conlawprof@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.