Was Barack Obama Standing Up for States Rights?

If events transpiring in Hawaii in recent days are any indication, Barack Obama might be reversing his field and standing up as an advocate of states rights when it comes to matters of environmental law.

On Friday, according to several online observers, including this one and this one, the soon-to-be 44th president of the United States violated federal environmental laws by tossing Madelyn Dunham — more accurately, her cremated remains — into the sea.  What was omitted from the coverage, however, is the fact that Obama did not violate the Aloha State’s environmental laws when he stood on a rocky Oahu shoreline and scattered a small cloud of his late maternal grandmother’s ashes into the sea.

According to an entry on the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources web site, Obama’s ash-tossing actions were completely legal by state standards if one ignores the crowd-size stipulation contained therein (but who really cares when it’s Obama, right?).  For details, see the answer to the question, “Is a permit required for scattering of ashes at sea?  Who do I call?“, near the bottom of the site’s FAQ page.

Yes, I know, Obama has earned a reputation for tossing people close to him “under the bus.”  But, by tossing his grannie’s remains into the sea, he might have intended to send a right-leaning signal to Americans that he believes states rights trump federal rights.  Or maybe he knew he would get away with it.  Or maybe he just wasn’t thinking.

-- Bob McCarty Writes