So... who wrote the NYT op-ed?

[hollodero]

(09-10-2018, 04:50 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I think it is an especially precarious situation when a former president does it. The norm we're talking about isn't just a matter of stability. The reason this norm was established throughout the years is because it is important to the peaceful transition of power. The reason a president removes themselves from public life, for the most part, once they leave office is because of that transition. I know I can often take these sorts of things into an extreme example, but this is why it happens, to keep those extremes from occurring. We get comfortable with things not happening because of these norms, not thinking about them, and then we end up going down a path we oughtn't.

Washington retired to Mt. Vernon after his two terms because he knew that staying in the public eye could cause a conflict of leadership. Sure, it's not as extreme as the whole two popes situation we had, but it's a similar thing. Obama violating that norm can create this sort of conflict, especially when there is currently no individual on the left that really stands out as the leader for 2020.

Maybe I think about political/democratic theory too much with these things, but I just see the cracks in the walls of the house that is our democracy widening before our eyes.

But doesn't a norm require some kind of surrounding normality? I don't think norms are meant to be principles to be upheld no matter what. How bad do things need to be that a former president can speak up without objections? There has to be a certain point somewhere, a certain amount of malpractice that makes speaking up ok, right.

If Obama feels that point is reached, I think he should do or say about it whatever he sees fit. And as I said: I feel when this much grim insider information about a presidency is available and there's a legit reason to believe those are not all faked and forged, then maybe there's a certain danger looming or it's at least not unreasonable to see it that way. And then maybe the phrase "bad things happen if good people do nothing because norms forbid it" applies and it might be a former president's duty to not rest in silence.