ABCNEWS' The Note leads off today with a good question.
We considered leading today's Note with a couple of quotes: that one from Article II, Section 1 about the presidential oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States;" one from President Bush's McCain-Feingold statement yesterday, "Certain provisions present serious constitutional concerns;" and one from Justice Department spokesperson Barbara Comstock: "When Congress passes a law and the president signs it, the department will be involved in the defense of that legislation."
But that struck us as too easy.
Instead, we'll lead with a serious, non-rhetorical question for our readers: does anyone know of any other time a president has signed a bill after saying he believed it to be largely unconstitutional?
I don't doubt that White House politico Karl Rove is a genius, but at some point the smart tactical game he's been playing of late (encouraging the president to embrace protectionism, amnesty for illegal immigrants and campaign finance reform) could well start to endanger the larger and much more important strategic objective of maintaining President Bush's image as the UnClinton.
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