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President Obama today signed a document countermanding some documents signed by his predecessor and saying he won't sign so many other documents like that called signing documents.
This is another one of those little-known nifty Washington gadgets that cause the Real World out here to stare and go, "Say what?"
A signing document is basically an addendum that a president signs after signing legislation saying, in effect, yes, I know I signed this legislation but I really don't like/disagree with/suspect are unconstitutional/or all of the above the following parts.
This is basically his instructions/permission to the vast D.C. bureaucracy to ignore the disputed parts, even though the people's elected representatives passed it and the nation's chief executive officially signed it allegedly into law -- albeit with a Washington wink.
No, really. Like signing and initialing those 142 pages for your mortgage but telling the bank officer you don't like the one on page 67 so won't pay on time and he says, "Okey-doke." Sure, that'll work well outside Fantasyland. Don't try too hard to understand it; it makes sense ITB (Inside the Beltway).
Bill Clinton actually used signing documents way more than George W. Bush. But No. 42 is a Democrat and his wife currently works for Obama. So No. 44 is on a big tear right now to distance himself instead from No. 43, the Republican, who's back in Texas and doesn't care but just hearing his name trashed makes Democrats feel good. (See, also more Bush distancing in The Ticket on today's stem cell changes here.)
Our blogging buddy Frank James has more on this special D.C. gimmick over here. The losing Republican candidate last fall, Sen. John McCain, promised never ever to use them, if elected, because he thinks they're dishonest. And if you don't like the legislation, you should veto it, not go around back and ignore it. Obviously, the naive McCain just fell off the turnip cart. That's why he's still a senator.
N.B., as they say in academe, Obama doesn't say he won't ever use signing documents. He just says he'll work with Congress about them. Which means he will, of course, sign some, but right now he wants today's news coverage to be on more change to sort-of believe in.
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