The consistency in Hawaii’s support for President Barack Obama’s military foreign policy is in the disbelief that he can do what he continues to do.

Hawaii’s four-person congressional delegation may be in general agreement with Obama’s world view, but there has been an increasing sharp disapproval of the president’s powers to make war.

First to push back against Obama’s insistence of claiming the power was former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Hanabusa successfully sponsored a resolution calling for Obama to ask Congress for future reauthor- ization of the the War Powers Act or to expend funds for future military force.

“I have opposed the Iraq War since the 2002 situation, and I’ve also opposed the president’s intervention into Syria, when he said he was going to do the limited airstrikes there,” Hanabusa said in interviews while serving in Congress in June of last year.

Eleven months ago, Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, along with Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, wrote to Obama to say “we do not believe that you possess sufficient authority to undertake the current U.S. military campaign against ISIL.”

It may be that the only thing that has changed is the evolving preference for calling the band of terrorists the Islamic State instead of ISIL.

The rest of the stern but impotent grumbling about Obama’s military position remains the same, that is, the president has to ask for permission. The Hawaii delegation doesn’t care for the U.S. using military force abroad without a statement from Congress saying the use of military force is authorized.

Back then, Obama insisted that because Congress in 2002 authorized the Iraq war, he was already cleared to proceed against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, according to Washington Post reports.

But in the end of October, our delegation saw Obama announcing a new escalation of the U.S. involvement with 50 special operation troops to be based in northern Syria, which observers called a major shift in policy.

Now Schatz is calling the administration’s plans “a strategic mistake.”

“In the 16 months since the United States began its participation in the regional fight against ISIL, our military involvement has escalated without a clear sense of how our escalating involvement will achieve our strategic objectives,” Schatz said in last week’s statement.

In a interview on CNN, Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said the U.S. has no authorization.

“The U.S. and the CIA should stop this illegal and counterproductive war to overthrow the Syrian government of (President Bashar) Assad and should stay focused on fighting against who the enemy really is, the Islamic extremist groups,” Gabbard said.

Last year Schatz and Hanabusa were battling for the late Daniel K. Inouye’s Senate seat, a race that Schatz won. Both strove to distance themselves from the worsening Middle East situation. Hanabusa insisted the war was folly and that Obama should change policies; Schatz was equally dismissive, saying during a 2014 Kauai speech, “We do not have the ability to influence matters on the ground in a productive way using the United States military and we should stay out.”

As it now appears, the past and present Hawaii delegations were both correct, and unable to influence the White House.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.