Barack Obama Quotes

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.

The involvement of the government in military adventures always results in the expansion, at least temporarily, of Presidential power.

The power to make war is vested in Congress and not in the President. Congress has no constitutional authority to grant such authority to the president.

We in America should see that no man is ever given, no matter how gradually or how noble and excellent the man, the power to put this country into a war

Since the 1st World War, U. S. Presidents have 18 times asked the Congress for authority to go to war or use military force. The Presidents have never been turned down by Congress.

During the early Cold War, Truman concluded that inter‐branch deliberations over war and peace were luxuries the country could not afford. The constant threat of Soviet aggression meant that the nation was already at war, and to protect the country, the president had to have the unilateral power to act, with force if necessary, anywhere in the world. Every post‐war president has advanced some version of this claim to justify military action unauthorized by Congress.

I don't think people realize how many decisions the president of the United States makes about military action.

I do not believe the President requires any additional authorization from the Congress before committing US forces to achieve our objectives in the Gulf.

I may in an emergency do things on military grounds which cannot be done constitutionally by Congress.

Every American war has brought a struggle between Congress and the Executive over war powers. The Constitution is somewhat annoyingly ambiguous on the point declaring that the President is Commander in Chief but empowering Congress to provide for the common defense, declare war, and raise and support armies.

The framers understood that the president, as the head of our armed forces, must defend the nation from imminent threat. But when the mission shifts from defense to offense, congressional approval is essential.

Unfortunately, since its passage in 1973, the War Powers Resolution has been stripped of its original purpose and has instead served as a temporary, de facto authorization for the executive branch to use military force whenever it deems it necessary.

No power but Congress can declare war, but what is the value of this constitutional provision, if the President of his own authority may make such military movements as must bring on war?

We have gone into a war, an unelected president sending us into a war that the Congress frankly had no right, I believe, to authorize.

When President Obama in 2011 used military power against the Qaddafi regime in Libya, he did not even notify Congress. A few in Congress mumbled, but did nothing.

Our firm view is that the president has no legal authority, none whatsoever, to commit American troops to war in the Persian Gulf or anywhere else without congressional authorization.

Nine years ago on September 14, 2001, I placed the lone vote against the 'Authorization for Use of Military Force' - an authorization that I knew would provide a blank check to wage war anywhere, at any time, and for any length.

Again, in Wag the Dog, war has to be declared by an act of congress. But if you go to war, you don't have to declare war. You're just at war and we did that, which is not legal.

The President has the power to wage war but not against U. S. laws…. He is a President; not a king.

[In wartime] there is almost always an overstretch [for power] by the President.

The constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime President.

If Mr. Roosevelt can do what he likes without consulting Congress, and we give him our boys, God alone knows what he will do with them.

Without the authority of Congress, the President cannot fire a hostile gun in any case except to repel the attacks of the enemy.

Is there really a way to restrict the powers of the Commander in Chief ... when one man's swiftly pressing the button may be necessary for some degree of national survival?

The way I read the Constitution,. the Congress is paid a salary to determine whether we should go to war ... Therefore, I don't think Congress is earning its money.