If there's one thing both parties seem to have in common, it's that they can always come together to support another endless war. Their favorite motto? Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war.)
Bipartisanship!
President Obama could get a second chance to sell Congress on the military operation in Libya, thanks to some last-minute help from an unlikely ally: House Speaker John A. Boehner.
On Thursday, with some liberals and conservatives trying to get Congress to force a withdrawal from Libya, Boehner (R-Ohio) offered an alternative. He introduced a resolution that would give Obama 14 more days to make his case.
Boehner’s resolution would vent congressional anger, stating that “the president has not sought, and Congress has not provided, authorization” for the operation. It also contains a threat that Congress might cut off funding if Obama defies Congress.
But the resolution stops short of demanding that the operation stop and doesn’t declare that Congress officially disapproves of it.
[...] On Wednesday, Republican leaders had to abruptly shelve a proposal from one of Congress’s perennial outliers — Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) — that would have demanded Obama withdraw forces from the Libya campaign within 15 days. The bill turned out to have much broader support than expected.
Boehner’s resolution was intended as a less-drastic way to express congressional unhappiness. In a meeting with fellow Republicans on Thursday afternoon, Boehner said of Kucinich’s bill that it would be wrong to abruptly pull out of a NATO-led operation.
