Bush's Real Agenda - NYT Editorial

Todays NYT editorial is a must read. In the view of the NYT editorial board, 9/11 was the perfect excuse to expand presidential power.

Over and over again, the same pattern emerges: Given a choice between following the rules or carving out some unprecedented executive power, the White House always shrugged off the legal constraints. Even when the only challenge was to get required approval from an ever-cooperative Congress, the president and his staff preferred to go it alone. While no one questions the determination of the White House to fight terrorism, the methods this administration has used to do it have been shaped by another, perverse determination: never to consult, never to ask and always to fight against any constraint on the executive branch.

And we, the citizens of the USA let him get away with it because we are a bunch of insecure cowards. We are afraid of the big bad terrorists. It's our fault that our country has become hated around the world. And, Bush's lack of a foreign policy has led to the ongoing conditions in the Middle East. N. Korea taunts us, Iran laughs at us, Hammas ignores us etc.

There is only one way to straighten this mess out. We need Congressional oversight and we need it now. Vote for Democrats. Maybe things will change or maybe not, but at a minimum, there will be some damn interesting Congressional hearings no matter what.