Do you feel you have been told the truth about Libya?
Libyan rebels prepare for battle against government forces. (PHOTO CREDIT: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
In an interview with the Boston Globe in December 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama said this on the campaign trail, "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."
He was talking about Iran at the time, but fast forward three-plus years, and some lawmakers are accusing him of doing just that in Libya now that Obama is president.
In separate remarks that same year, then-Sen. Joe Biden (and now Obama’s vice president) said he'd move to impeach a president that did such a thing. Don't you hate when those words come back to bite you?
There are a lot of unanswered questions swirling around about our involvement in Libya on the part of Congress and the American people:
- Did the president have the authority to deploy U.S. military to Libya?
- What is the U.S. mission there?
- How quickly can and should we hand over control and to whom? (It's something the president, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have talked a lot about.)
- And maybe most importantly, what is the end game?
The Obama administration insists it has been responsive to the many questions about the Libyan mission, but no one on Capitol Hill seems to be happy with the president or clear on what's going on there.
Here’s my question to you: Do you feel you have been told the truth about Libya?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Why won't Congress and Pres. get serious about debt crisis?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The federal government has been operating without a budget for six months, instead lurching from one stop-gap spending measure to the next. And the inability or unwillingness of the president and Congress to do the jobs they were elected to do is starting to have an impact.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/03/24/art.money.wh.jpg caption=""]
A new report on CNN Money.com highlights some of the growing money woes:
The U.S. military has delayed a total of 75 projects. And the Army has deferred contracts for new equipment like Chinook helicopters and held off on refurbishment projects of war-torn Humvees.
No big deal. We're only fighting three wars.
There are hiring freezes at the Justice Department, Social Security Administration and Congressional Budget Office. And the Army and the Marine Corps have temporarily stopped hiring civilians.
Eight new Social Security offices will not open.
National Institutes of Health officials are underfunding some grants, due to uncertainty over the budget.
Almost one year ago, President Obama launched the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a bipartisan deficit commission. The group released its final report in December, but the suggestions have been all but ignored.
This week, ten ex-chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers wrote an opinion piece on Politico.com urging Congress and the President to act quickly. They said, "The unsustainable long-run budget outlook is a growing threat to our well-being. Further stalemate and inaction would be irresponsible." Want to bet that's ignored too?
Here’s my question to you: Why won't Congress and the President get serious about America's debt crisis?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 6pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
Recent Comments