Former President Barack Obama had a chat with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” on Tuesday night. He talked about the limits on the power that a U.S. president should have.
Obama explained, “Don’t use the military to support your political goals.
As president, you are the Commander-in-Chief, and you’re responsible for leading the military. There are certain rules that make sure the military doesn’t take sides with the president, but instead remains loyal to the Constitution and the American people. We need to find ways to bring that back.”
These comments come at a time when current President Donald Trump is involved in a military conflict with Iran.
The war has gone on for more than 60 days without approval from Congress, which has led some to call it an “illegal war.” During his conversation with Colbert, Obama also suggested that presidents should not have personal business interests that could be influenced by outside groups.
He said, “I think it’s a good idea that the president shouldn’t have a lot of outside businesses that other companies or foreign groups can invest in.
I always thought this was a pretty simple rule.”
Obama also supported the idea that the U.S. Attorney General should be independent, even though the position is part of the executive branch.
He said, “The White House shouldn’t be able to tell the Attorney General to ignore the law and charge whoever the president wants.
The Attorney General is the people’s lawyer, not the president’s right-hand man.”
He continued, “We can handle a lot — bad policies, strange elections.
There are a lot of things that we can get through. But we can’t ignore the fact that the criminal justice system is being used for political reasons. You can’t have a system that allows the government to take on political enemies or favor friends.”
To make his point clearer, Obama mentioned his experience working with former Attorney General Eric Holder.
He said, “We need to make sure the Justice Department is free to make its own decisions about specific cases.
I would often talk to Eric Holder about big policy issues, but that’s different from deciding which cases to take on.”
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