Law Giver -or- Moses and The Burning Bush

George W. Bush is a divine law giver, sanctioned by God to bring rules to all mankind. He need look nowhere but inside himself to determine what these laws are. At least, that's the impression you get if you look at his administration's actions over the last couple years.

An excellent diary today by Kagro X over at DailyKos puts this fact in stark relief by discussing the recent flap over Douglas Feith's "inappropriate" but not "unauthorized" intelligence memo. But before getting into the Feith situation, I'm going to lift the Nixon quote Kagro X cites:

Frost: "So ... what ... you're saying is that there are certain situations ... where the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal."

Nixon: "Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal."

Frost: " By definition."

Nixon: "Exactly, exactly. If the president, for example, approves something because of the national security ... then the president's decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out to carry it out without violating a law."

The fact that Nixon is the one who made this comment is (a) not surprising at all and (b) the connection we need to the current administration. People like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld came of political age in the Ford administration, and they have a huge chip on their shoulders from when Congress reined in Nixon's absurd theories about the executive. Much of the unitary executive theory that crackpots in the White House subscribe to today is basically a continuation of Nixon's plans to bring Law to Man.

Which brings us back to Feith's comment that his unsavory, reprehensible, morally odious memo was not unauthorized. Who cares whether the thing was authorized if it was illegal, right? The Administration cares, because whatever the president approves becomes legal. As Kagro X also points out, that's why Alberto Gonzales felt justified to tell the Senate that the Administration was operating within the law on its blatantly illegal wiretapping program. Since the president approved that program, in the eyes of theorists at the White House, it was legal.

This concept of the "unitary executive branch" is dangerous and illegitimate, and it underlies everything Bush does. Case in point, his now-infamous signing statements. At a far higher rate than any previous president, Bush has issued statements when he signs laws that say that he will interpret the law in question "in a manner consistent with his constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

Note that Bush does not say he will or won't disregard any law in any specific way. All he says is that he will interpret them however his royal whim dictates.

In addition to ignoring any bill Congress passes, Bush's protection of "the...executive branch" apparently extends to ignoring any oversight Congress attempts to exert over the various cabinet departments. Senators Grassley, Leahy, and Specter (at least) have voiced strong opposition to the non-responsiveness (and at times obstructiveness) of the Department of Justice under Alberto Gonzales.

Not only does DOJ apparently refuse to provide its own responsive documents at the request of Senate committees, but it also tells other executive branch departments not to do so either. You see, DOJ is responsible for handling the legal representation of all federal agencies, and as their attorney, it has advised them not to comply with Congressional oversight requests.

In this context, what would normally be merely a disgusting misuse of power for political purposes starts to take on a much more sinister character: DOJ has also been firing US Attorneys from offices around the country to replace them with hyper-partisan loyalists. They may also take advantage of a provision of the PATRIOT Act that will allow these appointments to become indefinite without Senate confirmation. Not that they need a legal justification since every bead of Bush's sweat is as good as law.

If Bush & Co. are to be believed, he is the only part of government that matters. Heck, I bet he could play all nine positions on a baseball team, too. But I don't think this is what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they set up three separate branches of government any more than Abner Doubleday had one-person baseball teams in mind. Since Bush's most significant experience before becoming governor of Texas was (poorly) running the Texas Rangers baseball team, maybe this shouldn't come as such a surprise.