Birther Lou Dobbs and climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) are concerned that President Barack Obama is trying to turn America into a monarchy. Appearing on Dobbs’ radio show on Tuesday, Inhofe argued President Obama doesn’t have the authority to make any commitments on behalf of the United States during the international climate treaty negotiations next week in Copenhgen, Denmark.

Obama will “make the statement that he will commit ourselves to the emission standards that were in the Markey bill,” Inhofe argued, but “he can’t do that,” because only Congressional action can create a legally binding international commitment. Dobbs then exploded, swearing, “Who the hell does this president think he is?”

DOBBS: Who the hell does this president think he is?

INHOFE: I don’t know, because you can’t do that. And I think it’s certainly disingenuous to mislead countries into thinking that a president … You know, this is not a kingdom. He’s not able to do that.

DOBBS: Not yet!

Listen:

Despite the anti-monarchist fears of Dobbs and Inhofe, the White House made clear that any commitment President Obama makes to address the climate threat at Copenhagen is a “provisional target” that is “in line with current legislation in both chambers of Congress” and that the “President is working closely with Congress to pass energy and climate legislation as soon as possible.”

Dobbs and Inhofe are two of America’s most prominent conspiracy theorists. Dobbs doubts whether Obama is a natural-born American citizen, and Inhofe believes the overwhelming scientific consensus on global warming is a hoax. It’s not much of a surprise that they hatched a new conspiracy theory when they got together.

Transcript:

INHOFE: Let’s look at the big picture. We have the Copenhagen meeting coming up in the middle of December. We now have learned the president has changed his mind again and President Obama will be attending around the 9th of December. It’s my understanding that he will make the statement that he will commit ourselves to the emission standards that were in the Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives. I’m sure you’ve talked about that because that was several weeks ago. That’s a 17% reduction in CO2 by the year 2020.

DOBBS: From 2005 levels.

INHOFE: Yes, that’s correct. He can’t do that. I just had an interview with a station in Copenhagen, in Denmark –

DOBBS: [laughter]

INHOFE: — that they were all under the assumption the president could unilaterally do that. No, that’s not true. In fact, one of my good friends, a Democrat senator, Jim Webb from Virginia has sent a letter to the president and I’m quoting a sentence out of it now: “As you well know from your time in the Senate, only specific legislation agreed upon in the Congress, or a treaty ratified by the Senate, could actually create such a commitment on behalf of our country.”

So, we need to make sure — and that’s the main reason I was going to go to Copenhagen was to, if Barbara Boxer and John Kerry went there and made some kind of a commitment that we were going to do something, I wanted to make sure that countries were fully informed that we are not going to be passing legislation that will accomplish what President Obama I believe is going to tell on the 9th.

DOBBS: Senator, this begs the question, if I may put it forward right now: Who the hell does this president think he is?

INHOFE: I don’t know, because you can’t do that. And I think it’s certainly disingenuous to mislead countries into thinking that a president . . . You know, this is not a kingdom. He’s not able to do that.

DOBBS: Not yet!

INHOFE: And we want to be sure that people realize that he cannot do that.

thinkprogress.org/2009/12/02/lou-dobbs-explodes-who-the-hell-does-this-president-think-he-is/