If George W. Bush were still in office, you could imagine calls for his impeachment for rejecting the advice of the Pentagon general counsel and the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, both of whom told him our intervention in Libya met the definition of “hostilities” under the War Powers Act.

Instead Obama, the former law professor, accepted the advice of his own White House counsel and the State Department legal adviser who offered a sophistic argument that the war in Libya is not really a war and therefore does not have to be approved by Congress within 60 days–as mandated under the War Powers Act.

The hypocrisy of Democrats who once damned Bush for his supposed misuse of presidential powers–in spite of the fact Bush won Congressional approval for his wars–while now defending Obama’s flagrant power grab is stunning. But no more disturbing than the hypocrisy of Republicans like Speaker John Boehner who in the past called the War Powers Act unconstitutional and voted to repeal it–but are now blasting Obama  for refusing to abide by its terms.

It is enough to make you think “principled politician” is an oxymoron.