[BLANK_AUDIO]
Welcome back.
We've been talking about the role that George Washington played
in establishing the basic contours of executive power in America.
On issue after issue the issue isn't simply,
the question isn't simply, what does the text say?
because the text is often ambiguous, the text of Article Two.
It's, it's, it's cryptic, it's, it's enigmatic.
So the question isn't just what the text says, but what George Washington did.
Now, I don't want you to think that that meant
that Washington could do what, sort of, whatever he wanted.
We're talking about areas where the text is ambiguous.
The text isn't so clear on who has the power to recognize a foreign regime.
Who in America can say, well now we
recognize the, the, the Libyan rebels or the
Syrian rebels rather than the government that we used to recognize in these places.
The text isn't so clear.
Presidents can make an argument that
they're basically the only ones around 24/7/365.
You can have foreign coups and insurrections
and changes of government at any time.
And the president structurally is going to be the one who
is, sort of, best able to, to address the situation.
And that's not a bad argument, but the decisive point isn't
that structural point.
It isn't even the textual point that, that presidents have the
power to receive ambassadors, because that text can be read different ways.
I think the key point is that the precedent was established early on.
That George Washington recognized the French Revolutionaries.
That actually was most decisive, and the text was ambiguous.
And Washington's actions were accepted by the other branches.
The other branches didn't
push back and say, no you don't have that power.
So too, the text is unclear about just how much the presidents have to tell
Senates in advance before they send for an envoys or negotiate treaties.
You could, I suppose, read the text to
say, well, since the Senate has to agree at
the end of the day to the treaty before it can be at the Supreme level end.
It has to be told everything
in advance about what our negotiating strategy is going to be.
On the other hand text doesn't say that, and maybe you, some negotiating
opportunities are going to arise when the Senate isn't even in session.
And, and and you don't want all the
secrets about your, your negotiating position to spill out
before the negotiations have happened, and the Senate can
be a leaky body compared to a unitary executive.
So, the arguments about the text of
the Constitution's structure kind of go both ways.
