"We Wouldn't Have Let Obama Get Away With This"

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/trumps-defiance-congress-exposes-republican-hypocisy/588205/

We Wouldn’t Have Let Obama Get Away With This
I worked for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee back when the GOP cared about keeping the president in check.
6:00 AM ET
Kurt Bardella
Senior adviser for the House Oversight and Reform Committee from 2009 to 2013


snip//

Trump’s defiance of Congress is outrageous and dangerous. It also exposes Republicans’ hypocrisy. There is a world of difference between how Republicans viewed oversight when Barack Obama was president and their support of Trump’s obstruction. I know, because for five years I worked for Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

In a 1957 Supreme Court ruling, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, “The power of Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process. That power is broad … It comprehends probes into departments of the federal government to expose corruption, inefficiency, or waste.”

During my time on Oversight, the chief justice’s words were often cited as justification for our vigorous supervision of the Obama administration. Led by Representative Darrell Issa, my former boss, Republicans issued more than 100 subpoenas, held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, created a select committee to investigate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi crisis, and filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging President Obama’s use of executive privilege.

snip//

The entire point of having separate but equal branches of government was to create protections against the kind of tyranny and absolute rule that was common in Europe. If Trump can simply ignore Congress and act unilaterally without consequence, then he is America’s first dictator.

This fight is bigger than one hearing or one investigation or one subpoena. It is a struggle to preserve the foundation of our republic. Republicans won’t rise to the challenge. Which means it’s up to Democrats to keep Trump in check, and to support the Constitution. They have to learn to confront Trump as aggressively as we confronted Obama.

[maxsolomon]

1. Fuck this Never Trumper

What Congress did to Obama wasn't "Oversight", it was Persecution.

[gratuitous]

2. And for all your oversight, Mr. Bardella

What, exactly, did you uncover? Did all your smoke and fury actually find some terrible crimes? Or did you just break the system so that government oversight became another partisan, suspicious activity? You say that Democrats have to confront Trump as aggressively as you confronted Obama. But what were you confronting the Obama administration about? What secret truth were you looking to find? Now that government oversight has become, on your watch, another political tool, you want Democrats to be as sneaky, underhanded and unscrupulous as you were.

This looks like a feeble stab at self-absolution to me.

[EleanorR]

3. The more republicans who call out trump and the cowardly GOPers in office the better

The future of our country is at stake.