Note: PNAC.info has a general policy of not posting material which seems to be overly biased or partisan, or which could be construed as a personal attack on President Bush or members of his administration. The following opinion piece could possibly seen by some as falling into that second category, but given the author’s very impressive credentials, the non-hostile tone of his insightful analysis, and the vital relevance of the subject matter, it would be irresponsible of us not to share it with you.
From republic to empire
By ROGER MORRIS
Monday, April 14, 2003
[Roger Morris, a member of the National Security Council under presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, is the author of Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician and Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America.]
Excerpts:
Whatever his triumph in Iraq, George W. Bush already enjoyed a victory of historic proportions in the United States. By unique dominance of Congress and the rest of government, and to the approval of the American media and an impressive majority in the polls, Mr. Bush had acquired power beyond the grasp of any predecessor. Before U.S. forces ever roared through Baghdad, their Commander-in-Chief was America’s most imperial president.
..
It would be easy to attribute this singular massing of power to predictable chauvinist politics in America’s reaction to the shock of Sept. 11. There is comfort in thinking of Mr. Bush as one more president riding the crest of a breaking wave — and that the tide will turn back, as always, to constitutional balance. Yet, even apart from the uncertain course of the “war on terrorism,” or Washington’s open-ended evocation of it, that optimistic view ignores decisive new realities in U.S. politics — and the emerging reality of George W. Bush himself.
Today’s imperial presidency looms over political parties and a Congress very different from those of the recent past. President Johnson faced formidable critics from his own party, such as senators William Fulbright, Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy. Mr. Nixon fought to the end a Democratic-ruled Senate and House, and the resistance of many influential Republican moderates. President Bush, on the other hand, will deliver his Iraqi war victory speech to houses of Congress dominated by conservative Republicans, with GOP moderates a rarity and rebels extinct. Their religious fundamentalist leaders, as well as the rank and file, not only back the President’s new reach with domestic repression and foreign retribution, but also share the larger geo-strategic urge to American hegemony behind the war on Iraq.
…
Not that this should surprise us. Shortly before he died in 1989, the eminent American writer Robert Penn Warren, author of All The King’s Men, a novel about a democratic demagogue and dictator, was asked if he foresaw another president with too much power.
“Well, it’ll probably be someone you least expect under circumstances nobody foresaw,” he said. “And, of course, it’ll come with a standing ovation from Congress.”
