TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The War Powers Resolution forbids American forces to stay in a war zone for more than 60 days without authorization from Congress. May 20th was the 60th day of U.S. involvement in the war in Libya.

The Office of Legal Counsel and the Pentagon’s general counsel both advised President Obama that the U.S.’s involvement in NATO operations against Qaddafi amounted to hostilities, and thus the administration would need to end American involvement or receive approval from Congress. Obama overruled them, and insisted our involvement doesn’t amount to hostilities:

But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team — including the White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and the State Department legal adviser, Harold H. Koh — who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.” Under that view, Mr. Obama needed no permission from Congress to continue the mission unchanged.

We are providing surveillance and refueling for NATO planes, two things that are absolutely required to continue operations, and we continue to use unmanned drones to fire missiles at targets on the ground. It is the President’s contention that those three things do not amount to “hostilities”?

The executive branch routinely has disagreements with Congress, but what’s ridiculous about this is just how quiet the left has been about it. This sounds remarkably similar to what Democrats rightly criticized the Bush administration for doing, but we’ve heard little more than silence. Apparently, an “imperial presidency” is only a concern if it isn’t their guy in the White House.