Charlie Daniels writes in a March 18 CNSNews.com column:
President Obama has made the statement that the U.S. Constitution is a flawed document.
It is not a president’s job to decide the merits of the Constitution but rather to enforce it as it is, or convene enough states to call for a constitutional convention and change it. It is not in his purvey or power to decide whether to enforce and defend it, it is in his oath of office and when he in any way refuses to abide by every sentence in the document, he violates his oath.
Daniels thus becomes the latest right-winger to willfully misinterpret what Obama said in a 2001 interview.
To support his claim about Obama, Daniels links to a 2008 Newsmax article quoting Obama saying that the Constitution is “a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now” but also “reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” Newsmax adds that “Obama did not elaborate on the ‘fundamental flaw’ that persists.”
But as we’ve documented, when you look at the context of the interview, the “fundamental flaw” Obama was referring to was the Constitution’s tolerance of slavery.
Is Daniels saying that Obama or any president should have tolerated a Constitution that permitted slavery? Sure seems that way.