|
Robert B. Sklaroff, M.D.
|
|
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20156904&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8
Palin’s Campaign for the Presidency…of the Senate By Michael David Sklaroff and Robert B. Sklaroff
During the Vice Presidential Debate, Governor Palin’s perception of this office was wrongly and repeatedly disputed by Senator Biden. In contrast, her portrayal was consistent with both the Constitution and historical precedent. This is how Biden incorrectly depicted this position, referring to Vice President Cheney: “Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.” Wrong. Article II defines the Executive Branch, not Article I. This is how Biden incorrectly depicted the role of the Vice President: “The primary role of the Vice President of the United States of America is to support the President of the United States of America, give that President his or her best judgment when sought, and as Vice President, to preside over the Senate only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the Vice President has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.” Wrong. Article I, Section 3 defines the responsibilities of the Vice President: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Thus, contrary to Biden’s vigorous assertions, the Vice President is the leader of the Senate, a status that is analogous to the role of Speaker of House. (Although Congresswoman Pelosi routinely abandons this role for political reasons—witness her speech prior to the first vote on the Wall Street Bailout—the individual functioning in this role is supposed to represent the entire body…with the Majority Leader functioning as the chief party advocate.)
The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, are generally considered to reflect the rationale of the framers of the Constitution. This is how they characterized the responsibilities of the Vice President (Federalist 68):
“The Vice-President is to be chosen in the same manner with the President; with this difference, that the Senate is to do, in respect to the former, what is to be done by the House of Representatives, in respect to the latter. The appointment of an extraordinary person, as Vice-President, has been objected to as superfluous, if not mischievous. It has been alleged, that it would have been preferable to have authorized the Senate to elect out of their own body an officer answering that description. But two considerations seem to justify the ideas of the convention in this respect. One is, that to secure at all times the possibility of a definite resolution of the body, it is necessary that the President should have only a casting vote. And to take the senator of any State from his seat as senator, to place him in that of President of the Senate, would be to exchange, in regard to the State from which he came, a constant for a contingent vote. The other consideration is, that as the Vice-President may occasionally become a substitute for the President, in the supreme executive magistracy, all the reasons which recommend the mode of election prescribed for the one, apply with great if not with equal force to the manner of appointing the other. It is remarkable that in this, as in most other instances, the objection which is made would lie against the constitution of this State. We have a Lieutenant-Governor, chosen by the people at large, who presides in the Senate, and is the constitutional substitute for the Governor, in casualties similar to those which would authorize the Vice-President to exercise the authorities and discharge the duties of the President.”
In his 2004 treatise on Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow quoted a senator who characterized how Vice President Aaron Burr—functioning under President Thomas Jefferson—had presided over the Senate “with great ease, dignity and propriety.” He added that Burr was so estranged from Jefferson that his most notable achievements had come in the legislature.
Now, listen to how Governor Palin depicted this role: “Our founding fathers were very wise in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility in the office of the Vice-President. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position.” She then segued into a re-citation of her executive experience “to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.”
Who would have thought that Palin would know the proper job-description for the office she seeks…while Biden would be totally misguided regarding a position in the body in which he had served for three and a half decades?
Michael David Sklaroff is a Senior at Barack Hebrew High School. Robert B. Sklaroff is a physician and Republican Committeeman. |
|
To contact me--Robert B. Sklaroff, M.D.--just send an e-mail (rsklaroff@comcast.net).
|