One Question, One Answer Revisited

One Question, One Answer

Will Bush Resign?

With John Michael Spinelli

Columbus, Ohio: On October 18, 2006 I wrote an article speculating on whether George W. Bush, the first president to use his self-defined status as a unitary executive with special powers that allowed him to violate the Constitution and international law with impunity, was really the first American tyrant to hold that high office.

My speculation on whether he and Vice President Dick Cheney would actually resign from office when the Constitution called for them to leave their executive branch positions, has been answered. Next Tuesday, a day that cannot come soon enough for some, will see President-elect Barack Obama, the first African-American candidate to be elected to gain residency to the White House, raise his right hand and take the oath of office for President of the United States. Like Bush did eight years ago, Obama will swear to abide by the provisions of the Constitution, uphold our laws and protect and defend our naton, which after eight years of Bush and company has been taken down not a few notches.

While President Bush said he will indeed exit the world stage and relinquish the once mighty role he used to unilateral scrub the world of tyranny and bring an undefined brand of freedom to everyone, even at the end of a gun, returning to Dallas to work on a book, his legacy and his library, there are many, like New York Times Paul Krugman, a long-time thorn in the side of Mr. Bush, who gives voice to a concern held by many that Mr. Obama should not forsake the past for the future. While Mr. Obama's extensive efforts to be seen as ecumenical at the start of what 53 percent of voters hope will be two terms is both laudable yet disconcerting to his Republican opponents, not looking back to the past, and Mr. Bush's many legal transgressions, because it would necessarily dredge up information some would just as well lie buried for future historians to dig up and analyze, is bad for a nation and a system of government that says no one is above the law.

"Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.

"And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make." [Paul Krugman]

Retrieved, rewound and ready for a new read two years later, here's "One Answer, One Question."

In a world where President Bush's War in Iraq and the global War on Terror guarantee that scaremongering and military strife will dominate our lives now and into the foreseeable future, the America people deserve an answer from Mr. Bush before, not after the upcoming mid-term elections.

If the Commander-in-Chief hesitates in answering it or chooses to pull out of his bag of constitutional tricks yet another self-proclaimed, self-righteous interpretation of his presidential powers, his response will tip his hand about whether he intends to go peacefully into POTUS afterlife or become America's first tyrant.

What's the simple question Americans, democracy-fatigued at home and democracy disappointed abroad, fear to ask of Mr. Bush?

"Mr. President, you have taken a solemn oath to uphold the US Constitution. Will you step down at the end of your term?"

Tyrants and democracy, we should recall, first emerged in Ancient Greece. Leaders elected through popular support learned they could exploit public complacency and not step down from office when their terms expired.

Should a storm of such constitutional hubris be allowed to gather, then the Divided States of America will be in for the fight of its life if it is to stop Mr. Bush from converting the Office of President into a redoubt of secrets and tyranny, which he alone controls.

Recent books like Cobra II, The One Percent Doctrine, Fiasco and The Greatest Story Ever Sold, which reveal the why's and how's behind the Bush/Cheney rush to war, are starting to bubble up through the Republican Party political pack ice, which has kept America's media submerged below it since Mr. Bush first took control of the White House. The Fourth Estate's restraint in challenging Mr. Bush's pell-mell rush to war in 2002, which he repeatedly justified to prevent Saddam Hussein from bringing nuclear mushroom clouds to our shores, has now been shown by respected authors and former Bush administration officials to have emboldened Mr. Bush to demand political contrition from Republicans and Democrats alike for a war that is now careening out of control and spreading beyond Iraqi borders to countries like Lebanon.

The recent signing by Mr. Bush of a bill that gives him exclusive power to determine what is and isn't torture, thereby circumventing Geneva Conventions, and giving him and his professional torturers immunity from prosecution, is just the latet sign that Mr. Bush may pull an "October surprise," not this year but in 2008, when he tells the country that conditions are such that he cannot and will not allow a successor to undo everything he has done to make the world a more dangerous place.

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking at a GOP congressional candidate's fundraiser, pointed to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as fresh evidence of the ongoing battle against terrorism and why "it is absolutely essential that we stay the course," the AP reported Cheney saying.

Bill Buckley, father of the American conservative movement, said in a CBS news article that Bush's Iraq War has failed and Bush no longer has the confidence of the nation, "If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign."

Buckley's prediction on how a parliamentary system would handle a stubborn leader like Bush whose war policies have disaffected a majority of the country, came true recently as a member of Tony Blair's Labour government told the prime minister what many Americans would like to tell their unitary executive. A junior British cabinet member wrote in a resignation letter that "your remaining in office is not in the interest of either the party or the country."

A bi-partisan panel of The American Bar Association sounded an alarm about the extent to which Bush and Cheney have sought to extend the power of their respective offices. The ABA report said that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills he signed.

One wayward Republican who sees the Constitutional rapids ahead is Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an article posted at MyWay, Specter is clear in what he intends to do to rein in the imperial president. "We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional."

In an April 2006 Boston Globe article on Bush's single-minded power grab, the case was made for why Bush, being neither checked or balanced by either individuals or institutions, feels emboldened to rule from his Pennsylvania Avenue fortress. "Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government," the article stated. Bush has repeatedly declared he does not need to "execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional, a frightening thought by any standard of democracy.

Will George Bush use the White House as his federal fortress and not return quietly to his Crawford, Texas ranch on Judgment Day, when his term-limit rapture moment arrives? Who will ask this one question?

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com