Revising the Presidential Oath on live TV.

From Wikipedia:

"The oath or affirmation of office of the President of the United States was established in the United States Constitution and is mandatory for a President upon beginning a term of office. The wording is prescribed by the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8), as follows:

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."


Where some of the Democratic candidates got the idea that the oath included protecting the US citizens as "Job One" is beyond me.

Presidents defend the Constitution. The Constitution is supposed to protect me.

Every time one of these idiots claim that their "primary responsibility" is to "keep us safe" I sing a sad song about "give me Liberty or give me Death" and ""home of the brave"

seems to have been added...Is that normal? When was that added? Ever?

foreign & domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same"

enemies... in the officer's oath.

I forgot to consider what the actual oath did say.

More grounds for Bush inpeachment...

Including that would have been offensive to most of the Founders.

and vice versa.

candidates mis-quote and misunderstand their role in it.

I like all of our candidates, but *that* part of the debate was weak. Obama and Richardson gave the strongest answers, IMHO, but they should have been more in command of the facts.

Has not a one of them read the job description????

Doesn't look like it, does it?

Why do I think of the final scene in "Terminator," where Linda Hamilton is in her Jeep driving into the heart of Mexico? A child says that there's a storm coming, and she looks at the horizon grimly.

I think that in the 21st century, we'll be on our own.

Who raised the "national security" aspect of it first last night? Wasn't it the CNN questioner? I'll check the transcript later.

I'm sure that the boys in the WH were cackling maniacally when they heard Dems voice the very words that Bush has used to gain extraordinary power. He says it all the time. "My first job is to defend the American people."

NO.

His first job is to defend the Constitution.

DODD: Obviously, national security, keeping the country safe. When you take the oath of office on January 20, you promise to do two things, and that is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and protect our country against enemies both foreign and domestic. The security of the country is number one, obviously.

Then Clinton picked it up:


CLINTON: I agree with that completely. The first obligation of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the United States of America. That doesn't mean that it is to the exclusion of other interests.

Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame.

I hope others will do so, too.

I wanted to see if there was an email link on the Dodd for President site, but I didn't see one.

It would be nice to see DK, Edwards, Biden, or someone who didn't directly weigh in on that and to set the record straight. I would think it would be an opportunity.

I am a strong Democrat. I will support whoever the Democratic Party nominee is, but this was a weak moment and could have been used to highlight one of the fundamental differences between our party and the other-- that we are stronger on civil liberties. Not by a just little ways, either.

Most of the rest of the night was good. On that question, several fell into a Republican mindset, IMHO.

this is great!

How?

to know why.

O8)

the American People will be free, the minute they start morphing that in to protecting the American People, we start becoming enslaved to their autocratic whims and our own fears. The founders left out protecting the people to the President because they left the job of declaring war to the Congress. The President as Commander in Chief of the armed forces to manage the war, not to be commander in chief of the American People. The founders were well aware of how the Kings, Popes, rich and powerful before them claiming to protect their people only used this excuse for their own pursuit of power, usually waging unnecessary war, while abusing the trust of their own citizens.

Of course the founder's understanding of human nature would go to be proven right again and again long after they passed from this Earth in countless nations around the globe, as despots would rise to power and fall, all claiming to be protecting their people. It's a crying shame that here in the 21st century, with the supposed leader of nations and the power to destroy life as we know has to relearn this fundamental lesson, which the wisest men of the 18th century already knew. The primary difference is, the consequences of such colossal ignorance by the current leadership and fearfulness of the people should they allow that to happen, will exact a tragic toll to the 10th power compared to what the world has seen before.

The one exception I can make to this rule would be if another super power should be so stupid and suicidal as to launch an all out nuclear missile attack against the United States, in which case logic dictates the President would not have time to consult Congress for a Declaration of War before he or she responds. Even then, said President should make an all out effort to do so even if it's after the fact, in order to remain true to the spirit of the Constitution.

Thanks for the thread, Ravy.

:yourock:

It starts with dropping the word preserve. It seems in every answer, preserve is left out. So the focus is on only "protect and defend." Then Constitution is left out.
And the net effect is that we the people are left out.

:kick:

Here's another way to interpret it: the oath of office states the President will do two things:

1) faithfully execute the Office of President and;
2) preserve, protect and defend the Constitution

in that order.

We have to ask what it means to faithfully execute the office so we turn to the Constitution. Section II of Article II is the first place that mentions the duties of the President. The very first thing mentioned is his role as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy. Presumably the chief duty of CiC is to protect the American people. Therefore it can be argued that Dodd is not incorrect.

OTOH, since preserving the Constitution is explicitly mentioned by name in the oath that elevates its importance to make the two duties equally important.

to convince me that the people that said that those that would "sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither", "live free or die", "give me liberty or give me death", etc. would agree with you that his role as CiC in any way equals, much less trumps defense of the Constitution.