From the Bangor Daily News:

PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Republican who made headlines with his “go to hell” remark aimed at President Barack Obama says he’s looking forward to meeting his commander in chief on Thursday.

His commander in chief?

That sounded a little fishy, so I went back and reread Article II of the Constitution. It does indicate that the President of the United States is the commander in chief of the armed forces, but it doesn’t say anything about the President’s authority over the governors of the several states.In fact, the 10th Amendment says that any powers not specifically delegated to the federal government automatically revert to the states, and to the people.

I find this little throwaway comment troubling. It’s an AP article, probably appearing in any number of newspapers in Maine. This means that 1) Reporters at the Associated Press are either ignorant of the concept of federalism and the enumerated powers of the federal government’s  Executive Branch, or they’re steeped in FDR-pining, Kennedy-Worshiping Obamalove, and are hoping to push their warped understanding of how the government is supposed to function on to millions of unsuspecting readers.

Of course, there are federal laws that supersede state law, but that is a different bag of apples. Laws don’t write executive orders or have beer summits or spend lots of time playing golf or getting hit in the mouth on the basketball court.

Paul LePage is the Governor-Elect of the State of Maine. As far as I’m concerned, that makes him answerable to the people of Maine, not to President Obama. When we start calling the President the Commander in Chief of Governors, how close are we to having him declared Commander in Chief over individuals? With odious bills such as Health Care Reform, Wall Street Reform, and the Stimulus passing across his desk, it’s possible that he already believes this to be the case.

It’s my sincere hope that the “commander in chief” bit actually fell out of the deluded brain of some AP reporter, and not from Mr. LePage himself. I would hate to think that the man I voted for would in any way believe that he should be taking orders from President Obama.