The Imperial President

On January 8, 2007, Tony Snow, the President's pres secretary said, in a news conference:

"The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he thinks Congress has voted the wrong way."

Read that again to get the full import.

According to the US constitution, the Congress write the laws, and the Administrative branch (President and his bureaucrats) administers/implements the laws. That's how it has been, with a few hiccups (Nixon), since our nation was founded.

But that's not enough for Dear Leader. He believes that he has the right to overrule anyone he disagrees with. Anyone. This is the man who, on December 18, 2000, famously said

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just so long I'm the dictator."

And he is behaving as though he is.

According to the constitution, the president can veto laws he thinks Congress voted the wrong way on. That is his right. But, if they override his veto, it is not within his authority to ignore that law. This is so fundamental that it should not have to be spelled out.

Bush and his lawyers disagee. If Bush doesn't like a law Congress has passed, he just ignores it and does as he pleases. He even has the temerity to sign bills into law, and the attach a signing statement reinterpreting them as he wishes, often as exactly the opposite of what Congress wrote and intended.

Bush recently claimed the right to violate the new postal reform bill - right after he signed it into effect. He can open anyone's mail and read it, if he or his advisors think there is a vague national security risk.

And now he plans to send thousands more troops to Iraq, despite the fact that the Congress and the citizens of this country don't want him to.

Laws don't apply to him. He has executive authority, he is the imperial president, and a strong believer in the divine right of kings presidents.