General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy does Obama say his first, solemn duty is to protect American people?
He just said it again.
His first and sworn duty is to protect and defend the Constitution.
That is his sworn oath. Protect and defend the Constitution.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,781 posts)Maybe he's just acknowledging the obvious and moving on to solemn duty #2?
intaglio
(8,170 posts)The oath is "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,"
As the Constitution is there for the protection of all American people surely he can legitimately claim that their protection is a duty?
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)IIRC, Bush said it too.
It seems they use this as deflection from their obligation to defend the freedoms provided to us under the Constitution; as a way to allow war making (MIC).
And it was an issue then, especially during the Iraq war. I remember people here having strong opinions with that.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)...which guarantees our most precious liberties as nit picking.
You do?
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)For one, its an innocuous statement to begin with. Taking offense to such a statement should be embarrassing for you.
For two, protecting the American people and protecting the Constitution are not 2 different missions, at all, whatsoever.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Ponder it. Think about what those words have brought us. "Protect the American people." Four trillion wasted dollars. Thousands of dead GIs, tens of thousands of wounded. All for naught. All because the MIC convinced Bush to say it was his first responsibility toprotect the American people. And now even some Dems follow suit.
For a politician to say that is carrying water for the war profiteers and ghouls.
riqster
(13,986 posts)Phrase. And I most vigorously do not think that we should do so.
Bush lied when he said that. It does not mean that every politico from now on means "rape, plunder, pillage, and profiteer" when they pledge to protect their constituency.
to accept my premise means that no president should say so.
Bush used the phrase for nefarious reasons. Obama should not use it.
And Obama isn't just pledging to protect his constituency. He's saying that's his first, and sworn duty. He can pledge to protect his constituency until the cows come home. He just shouldn't say that it is his most important duty.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)it's funny what pisses people off and he's pretty good at it.
Cha
(295,916 posts)MineralMan
(146,192 posts)In a nation where the people are ostensibly in charge of selecting their own government, "the American People" are among the responsibilities of the President. The Constitution is a document that is all about the people and their importance in our system of government. In protecting them, the President is also protecting and defending the Constitution.
I'm surprised that is not obvious to a student of America.
Beginning with the first sentence of the Preamble, the word "people" occurs 9 times in the document, all in very important places in that document.
You can read the whole thing at this link:
http://constitutioncenter.org/constitution/full-text
msongs
(67,194 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)more important than their Constitution.
although I WILL give Obama the benefit of the doubt and think it might be possible that he has simply adopted the rhetoric crafted by Bushco.
But he is wrong, and it is harmful to continue to say this.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)You're 100% correct: The President's job is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Without the Constitution, there is no United States of America, or at least there is no country described in the Constitution as the United States of America. When Presidents get confused on this point - either by chance or design - all kinds of mischief ensues, because the President thinks he's protecting the American people. And that's not his job, first or last, solemn or casual.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)phleshdef
(11,936 posts)You are trying way too hard.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Fuck the American people, it's the Constitution that matters.
You know, the one that protects the rights of the American people.
LOL!
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)...without gnashing of teeth and tearing of garments... and that's just coming from the left!
Cha
(295,916 posts)gnashers. I love it! So freaking predictable it's comedic. "The left"?.. if that's what you want to call them.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)That's preposterous!
rug
(82,333 posts)JI7
(89,180 posts)onenote
(42,380 posts)and I use logic in the loosest possible form.
riqster
(13,986 posts)Be damned to meaning, we have words to worship!
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)BlueCheese
(2,522 posts)Because more often than not it's being used as an excuse to embark or some hare-brained adventure abroad or infringe on civil liberties at home.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)I guess the low-information citizens buy it.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Yes...his first job is to protect the polity...what do you think "Government of the people" means? His job is to protect us...the people, by exercising his authority under the Constitution.
I am surprised this was not covered in your civics education.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Government of the people"
It's Government of the Contstitution, by the Constitution, for the Constitution!!!
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Originalism is much closer to the mark!!!!
JI7
(89,180 posts)Vattel
(9,289 posts)He is the chief executive and CIC and so he has the duty to enforce the rights of Americans, execute the law, and command the military in war. That pretty much demands that he protect the American people although I wish more presidents realized that it does not mean that he should violate the rights of non-Americans to increase the security of Americans.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)He does not swear to keep me safe.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)It started with the cries of "Terra!" under the Bush administration to justify the stripping of American Constitutional protections through the Patriot Act and mass surveillance. And it has only worsened under Obama.
All of the dismantling of our Constitution that is being undertaken by the oligarchs and their purchased politicians relies on the public's poor understanding of our own system of government, especially of the limitations placed on government for the protection of the people from the government.
None of it - the mass surveillance, the assaults on and intimidation of our free press, the secret laws and secret courts, the indefinite detention, the "Kill Lists," the ceding of public control to global corporations - can occur if the people are aware of and insist on the rights and representation guaranteed in the Constitution.
We are being told to accept the murder of our Constitution, with the excuse that it's for our own protection.
Over and over again, our protection is the excuse offered, so we know this wording is not accidental. The messaging is not accidental. This ugly claim about what presidents are supposed to do above all else is a deliberate lie begun under Bush and continued under the new corporate administration, to acclimatize the public to the transformation of this nation from a representative republic to something very different, something authoritarian and definitely not Constitutional.
Renew Deal
(81,802 posts)Sworn and solemn are different, but beyond that it's the point of having a government.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)Then it would be one and the same.
yodermon
(6,143 posts)or something