Can the 14th Amendment be used to overrule Congress...

Numerous left-leaning blog and news sites have been reporting on a possible "out" for President Obama in the current debt impasse with the Republican-controlled House.  First, I find it interesting that liberals actually read the Constitution much less agree and abide by it, but that's another matter. 

First, let's read the section the liberals are referring to, it is Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868:

'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

What the left is saying is that the President has the authority to use this clause of the amendment to indicate there is NO debt limit and that he can continue to run up the debt without congressional action, thereby avoiding a default (which is questionable in itself...) and a showdown with Congress.

But the left actually read the ENTIRE Constitution, they would have noticed the following clause in Article I, Section 8:

"The Congress shall have power To borrow Money on the credit of the United States."

Meaning that the Congress, NOT the President, has the authority over the country's debt limit.  In fact, there is NOTHING in Article II that gives the President any authority over the "purse strings", as that authority lies solely in Congress.  If the President attempts to go 'round Congress by using the 14th Amendment clause (which was actually intended to ensure the debt incurred by the United States during the Civil War was not questioned, while disavowing any debts ran up by the Confederate States Government or the slaveholders' claims of lost money due to the 13th Amendment) this would create a constitutional crisis that would be worse than any "default" of the United States, and cause a bitter division within the country as well as the Congress. 


I would like to see the debt issue resolved, but I feel that until the country gets their fiscal house in order, the debt limit should NOT be raised "just because"; instead the country needs to cut back, just like any home would when their income is less than their expenses.  The Republicans need to stand fast and not cave into the Democrats, as this would the repeat of the mistakes made by the Republicans of 1982 and 1990, who were promised more cuts than spending and it ended up being more spending than cuts, and cost George H.W. Bush his second term in 1992.  If they cave, Obama will win a second term because the anger by the conservatives will result in a third-party candidate, which will split the Republican vote and guarantee an Obama win in 2012.  So, for the GOP, hang tough, the people are behind you, regardless of what the MSM, the President, and Democrats in Congress will tell you.