By J. Randolph Evans

What is the difference between former Georgia Attorney General Thurbert
Baker and President Barack Obama? This is not a trick question. The
answer actually signals a troublesome trend for democracy in America.

Both men were elected to perform very important jobs in the scheme of a
representative democracy. After all, democracies depend on faithful
public servants to fully perform their jobs to the best of their
abilities.

Thurbert Baker was elected by the people of Georgia three times as
Georgia Attorney General. As such, he understood that the
responsibilities and obligations of the office of Attorney General took
precedence over his own personal convictions and beliefs. Make no
mistake – there were times when there was a conflict between his job as
Attorney General and his personal beliefs.

One of those situations was Georgia’s new law requiring photo
identification to vote in Georgia’s elections. There is little doubt
that Democrat Attorney General Thurbert Baker was not happy when
Republican Governor Sonny Perdue signed the photo identification bill
passed by the Republican Georgia General Assembly. Yet, with the help
of some special assistant attorney generals, his office consistently
defended Georgia’s photo ID law against multiple legal challenges in the
federal and state courts, by, among others, the Democratic Party of
Georgia. Notwithstanding any private reservations that he might have
had, Attorney General Baker defended the constitutionality of the photo
ID bill in every court. It was his job, and he did it (no matter how
personally distasteful he may have found it).

There were other times. One of the most highly publicized involved the
prosecution and conviction of Genarlow Wilson. Wilson was a seventeen
year old African American convicted of aggravated child molestation
after he had oral sex with a fifteen year old girl at a New Year’s eve
party. In a separate lawsuit, a judge set aside Wilson’s conviction for
aggravated child molestation on constitutional grounds. (The court
reduced the charges to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation.)
Notwithstanding any personal reservations he might have had, Attorney
General Baker appealed on behalf of the State of Georgia.

During the appeal of the Genarlow Wilson case, Baker faced enormous
pressure from the African-American community (including Reverend Joseph
Lowery and the Congressional Black Caucus) over his defense of the
conviction including the position that it was constitutional. But he
did not abandon his duty. (Many believe that this decision cost him
important political support later in his unsuccessful bid in the
Democratic Primary for Governor in 2010.) Notably, the Georgia Supreme
Court upheld the conviction as constitutional, but found that the
mandatory ten year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. That was
Thurbert Baker.

Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. His job is to enforce the
laws of the United States without regard to his own personal
convictions. He does have the right to veto legislation that he
opposes. He also has the right to push for legislation that he wants
(like the healthcare legislation) and oppose legislation that he does
not. He can even push for the repeal of legislation that he opposes.
But, until such repeal, he has an obligation to faithfully defend and
enforce the laws of the United States.

On February 23, 2011, President Obama announced that this was an
obligation that he would not fully meet. Instead, his administration
announced that it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the
Defense of Marriage Act. This law defines marriage as only between a
man and a woman. Basically, after a court imposed a deadline, President
Obama has refused to file documents defending the Act.

There is little question based on his comments that, like Attorney
General Thurbert Baker and the photo ID legislation, President Obama
does not like the Defense of Marriage Act. However, this is not a
commentary on the Act itself. This is about Barack Obama’s performance
of his duties as the President.

The responsibility of the President is specified in Article Two, Section
3 of the Constitution. It states:

He shall from time to time give to the Congress
Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their
Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;
he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of
them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time
of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think
proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall
Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Notably, the Constitution does not say some of the laws, or the laws
which the President likes or believes to be Constitutional. But then,
that is the difference between Thurbert Baker and Barack Obama.