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Unchecked power can be dangerous
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- "The imperial presidency is back," declared historian Michael Beschloss immediately after President Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress nine days after the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York. Provocative, erudite-sounding statements such as that one have made Beschloss the nation's leading sound-bite historian. His observation on Oct. 20 sounded so smart, in fact, many other commentators have chosen to use it as their own. The term "imperial presidency," which was coined by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in a 1973 book with that title, was meant to characterize the accumulation of presidential power and aloofness that began in the White House after Pearl Harbor and continued through the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The description stuck to Nixon, in part, because people remembered how he had tried to dress White House guards in toy-soldier style uniforms. But the idea was much more complicated than that. Schlesinger explained the concept as follows: "When the constitutional balance is upset in favor of presidential power and at the expense of presidential accountability, the office can be said to become imperial." The Watergate scandal brought an end to the imperial presidency. Referring to his alleged crimes, Nixon sparked a backlash when he told interviewer David Frost: "When the president does it, it is not illegal." Congress then trimmed back on presidential powers. Schlesinger believes the Constitution called for a strong presidency combined with an equally strong system of accountability. At the time the Constitution was written, James Madison noted that the presidency would naturally get stronger at a time of "danger, real or pretended, from abroad." Thus it is no surprise that President Bush is rapidly accumulating power as he prosecutes a war against the underground terrorist movement responsible for deadly attacks on the United States. And because this is not a traditional war, it makes sense that he needs a unique collection of powers. Everyone except the most devoted civil libertarians was happy about Bush's actions until he decreed, without consulting Congress, that non-citizens suspected of terrorism would be tried by military tribunals, not in the federal courts. Such trials could be entirely secret and the standard of proof would not be as high as in the courts. When Bush took that step, some members of Congress and many editorial writers began to complain not only about the decision, but also about earlier, less obvious efforts by the Bush administration to restrict the flow of information to the legislative branch and the public. Bush administration officials are unfazed by allegations that the president is reviving the imperial presidency. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the shift in the balance of power from Congress to the White House was inevitable because Congress had abused its oversight functions by focusing on presidential scandals. Perhaps Fleischer does not realize that the term "imperial presidency" is not a compliment. Schlesinger meant it to apply to situations where a strong president had refused to be accountable to the legislative branch. The problem, of course, is that Bush is amassing the kind of power that can easily be abused. Many presidents have lived to regret the lack of accountability that they thought they wanted. Nixon probably would have been remembered as a great president if he had not evaded accountability. President Reagan would have avoided the humiliation of Iran-Contra if he had insisted that his national security team be held accountable. The fact that Bush is seeking these prerogatives does not necessarily mean he intends to abuse them. So far, he has shown a remarkable knack for avoiding the most glaring mistakes of his predecessors. Despite his much-ridiculed academic credentials, he has proven to be a good student of history. Thus he should already know that an absence of accountability is every bit as dangerous to his presidency as Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.
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Times columns today Howard Troxler Gary Shelton Sara Fritz Jan Glidwell |
