I actually haven't criticized Obama's request. I want government to be shrunk to reduce wasteful spending...I would want to know the extent of the power he is requesting, how much it allows him to do, and if there is a timeframe, etc, but I think any reasonable person who follows politics would probably be curious about that too. I would want to know the same things if it were a Republican President. Does it give him carte blanche kind of power? Or is it a very directed request, enabling him to only affect those departments specifically mentioned? Basically, I just want to know about the fine print first before I say Congress should give it to him or reject his request.
But then again, I consider myself a independent conservative, not a Republican. They are not equivalent terms to me. I always reserve the right to go against the GOP if I disagree with them, and I reserve the right to give Obama or any other Democrat credit if I think he or she merits it. Granted, it happens infrequently, but it has happened.
For instance, while I thought Obama should have gotten Congressional approval for the airstrikes over Libya, I had absolutely no problems with the actual actions, with the use of military power (even under the guise of the United Nations) to try to oust Khaddafi. A lot of Republicans were opposed to that, and I actually kinda sided with Obama on that. I figure if I am okay with using military force to oust Hussein, how can I suddenly be against the use of military force to aid in the removal of another dictator? Intrinsically, whats the difference between Khaddafi and Hussein? To be totally opposed to that while favoring the war in Iraq would have been hypocritical. I criticized him for not following procedure, but not because the action itself was wrong. He just needs to ask before taking the car, you know?
