Posted by Kenneth Anderson: Recalling Candidate Obama on Signing Statements: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_06_28-2009_07_04.shtml#1246451402
A quick, further note to co-blogger John Elwood's posts on the Obama administration's use of signing statements. I'm sure someone has mentioned this in the comments somewhere, but over at Opinio Juris,[1] Julian Ku has posted up video of then-candidate Obama denouncing the use of signing statements and promising not to use them. "Hypocrisy" is a strong word, but I'll agree with Julian that it fits in this case; likewise the shrug from President Obama's supporters that heck, all presidents do it. Yes, of course, all presidents do it. Not all presidents do it, however, after promising not to do it. It's not the fact of doing it, it's the fact of breaking the promise, and with the complete confidence that no one of any significance will call you on it, starting with the press. The video is fascinating viewing as an artifact from the media memory hole, and thanks to Julian for putting it up. References 1. http://opiniojuris.org/2009/07/01/did-anyone-oppose-signing-statements-just-koh-the-aba-and-some-guy-named-barack/ _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list Volokh@lists.powerblogs.com http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
