The White House draft of a measure granting President Barack Obama the authority to attack Syria, sent to Congress the week before last, was too broad. Now some critics are saying that the Senate's rewritten resolution, approved by the Foreign Relations Committee this past week, is too narrow. Consider me skeptical. The lesson of history is clear: Whatever limiting language Congress adopts, a determined chief executive will read it to justify whatever he wants it to justify.
Presidents, when they choose, have always found ways to broaden the authority granted them by Congress, especially in matters of war and peace.
Shortly before the United States entered World War II, for example, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order creating an extensive system of classification for defense information. He cited as his authority a statute granting him narrow discretion to protect the details of the locations of military bases.