President Obama needs to be President and not Supreme Court critic

The President Warns the Supreme Court

Our President is a smart man; he is a lawyer and a former law professor. He should know how our government works and why there are three distinct branches with checks and balances.

Apparently he does not know or care about these things, perhaps he missed Civics class while community organizing. He criticizes the Supreme Count as “an unelected group of people.”

Whatever the reason for his behavior, I find it very disturbing.

Most recently he called on the Supreme Court not to be an activist court and strike down the health care law.  He said he is confident the Court will not legislate from the bench. He claims the law “passed with a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”

Notwithstanding he is distorting the facts; the law passed 219-212 (51%) in the House and with 60 votes in the Senate and with virtually no votes from outside his party, his chastising the Supreme Court as he did in the campaign contribution ruling is inappropriate at best and extremely irresponsible.

You can tell the fundamental character of a person by what they say and how they act. In this case I believe we should have concerns. His priorities seem to be mostly focused on getting his way any  way he can.

The issue before the Supreme Court is whether or not a law passed by Congress and signed by the President is constitutional.  Twenty-six of our states don’t think it is. It does not matter if the law is benefiting many people, it does not matter that billions have already been spent implementing it, what matters is the integrity of the Constitution of the United States.  It is up to the judicial branch of our government to make that determination, not a politician running for reelection.

We can only hope that the Supreme Court judges exercise their best and honest judgment. However, regardless of their decision, it will be the law of the land and if the people and Congress don’t like the decision, they are free to pass a new law that constitutionally accomplishes their goals.

A true leader may be disappointed in a court ruling as have some past Presidents, but his reaction should be to support the process and the constitution and let his comments be private.  It is not the job of the President to lobby the Supreme Court or to chastise it.

If we were to deviate from the rule of law and the interpretation of the Constitution, there would be no Affordable Care Act because the majority of Americans still oppose the law.  In a recent CNN/ORC International poll forty-three percent of Americans say they favor the Affordable Care Act.

Forty-three percent of Americans want some parts of the law overturned and 30 percent want the entire law overturned.  When it comes to the individual mandate to carry health insurance, a Kaiser survey found no group (Democrats, Republicans or Independents) where a majority of people looked favorably on the mandate.

Perhaps the President should focus on this “strong majority,” stronger than the majority that enacted the law.