. . . a President With Three Buttocks (Er, Branches!)
With the impending confirmation of Samuel Alito, George Bush will have a Supreme Court stacked with conservative partisans loyal to his administration to add to a “rubber stamp” Congress that won’t seriously question any part of his agenda. In an earlier post, I speculated that an Alito confirmation would make Bush a de facto dictator. That might be a slight exaggeration, but clearly the future course of the country can be considered the sole responsibility of George Bush and the republicans who have chosen to march in line behind him!
Bush can take full credit if he is able to bring about a successful resolution in Iraq, and help Americans feels safe from terrorist threats like the recent one from Osama bin Laden.
He can take full credit if he can provide adequate support for disaster victims, and protection from potential natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, fires and flu pandemics.
He can take full credit if he can lead the economy is a positive direction that creates jobs for people like the 30,000 Ford employees who were recently let go, starts to reduce the national debt, controls inflation and keeps home ownership within reach of new potential buyers.
He can take full credit if he can help Americans manage the uncertainty of rising medical costs, and the cost of educating their children.
Since there are no more checks and balances in our government, it’s all on the President to make this country what it is going to be in the immediate future. If things don’t go well, he can’t blame congressional democrats, since it is clear that they have no power or influence. He can’t blame “activist judges,” since he now has his stable of “strict constructionalists” at the top of the judicial food chain. At this point, to he’s THE MAN, and he now has 10 months to show, once and for all, what kind of man he really is!
But in November, the American people get to vote on whether accept a “Bush dictatorship” until 2008. They can return a republican majority to congress and allow Bush to continue with unchecked power during the remainder of his term in office, placing all their bets on him to make their lives better. Or they can choose to return the legislative branch to a democratic majority that will act as a potential check against presidential over-reaching, and perhaps influence the country in a different direction.
Hopefully, it will come down to one simple question that all Americans will have to answer when they cast their votes in November of 2006. Has my life, and the lives of the people I care about, been improved by George W. Bush’s vision of America? (Of course, a corollary to that question is: Is my vote being counted? But that’s another story.)
Riddle me this. Was Sandra Day O'Connor really an asset to the liberal cause? On many issues, among them property rights, Kennedy, not O'Connor, was the swing vote. O'Connor was no conservative zealot, but her replacement with someone likely to be more reliably conservative does not radically alter the Court's balance. Were Ginsburg or Stevens to retire and be replaced wtih someone of Alito's perceived inclinations the balance would be significantly altered. Perhaps when that happens liberal hyperbole will be warranted.
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