NeilAlexander had great diary yesterday on previous presidential executive orders.
Today the Kansas City Star has an abridged version of a column by David Gergen on CNN on Obama's executive order on immigration.
It bears a remarkable similarity to what wrote Gergen back in 1948 (he has been around that long, hasn't he?) to Truman's abandonment of traditional ways of addressing the hard public problem of segregation.
Below the fold is what I'm sure Gergen wrote in 1948.
Truman wrong on military segregation
There is something troubling about President Truman's decision to end segregation in the military by executive order.
It isn't the underlying policy. We have known for years we can never live up to the promise that all men are created equal with such a policy. Nor is it even the questionable legality.
Even so, Truman's executive order on ending segregation in the military moves us into dangerous waters.
It is one thing for a president to act unilaterally in national emergencies. But the challenges of segregation do not represent a national emergency. They represent the chronic abysmal failures of politicians in Washington to govern well.
While the President's impatience is understandable, that does not justify an abandonment of traditional ways of addressing hard public problems.
Here is the excerpt of Gergen's actual CNN column in today's Kansas City Star.
Obama wrong on immigration
There is something deeply troubling about President Obama's decision to grant legal safe haven to unauthorized immigrants by executive order.
It isn't the underlying policy that is troubling. We have known for years that we would never deport some 11 million people from our midst. Nor is it even the questionable legality that disturbs. On many occasions during our history, presidents have tested the boundaries of their constitutional power through executive orders.
Even so, President Obama's executive order on immigration seems to move us into uncharted, dangerous waters.
It is one thing for a president to act unilaterally in national emergencies. Not an emergency
But the challenges of immigration policy do not represent a national emergency, nor do they touch upon the military authorities of a president. Rather, they represent the chronic, abysmal failures of politicians in Washington to govern well.
While the President's impatience is understandable and his anger at Republican intransigence is well placed, that does not justify an abandonment of traditional ways of addressing hard public problems.
What Gergen wrote this week is as persuasive today as the same argument would have been in 1948.
(Actually in copying from the entire column, it is interesting what the op-ed editors at the Star left out but that is a different diary.)