What happens if a radical takes over a White House that has grown dangerously powerful?

[Bravo Zulu]

Yale professor BRUCE ACKERMAN sounds a warning

After America's century-long rise to world hegemony, the presidency is a vastly different institution than it was in the days of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. The next few decades will be equally transformative, but in ways that will cause great difficulty for the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.

A series of political, bureaucratic and military developments threaten to make the presidency into a platform for charismatic extremism and abrupt swings in foreign policy. Barack Obama's centrism and constitutionalism may disguise their significance in the short term. But this should not lead him to ignore the long-term dangers. He should use his time in office to support reforms that will ameliorate, if not cure, underlying pathologies -- lest a Sarah Palin, or her mirror image on the left, someday come to power and use the presidency as an engine of destructive radicalism.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10269/1090077-109.stm?cmpid=newspanel#ixzz10hikFIxB

[COLGATE4]

1. Exactly. Imagine a White House with Caribou Barbie at the

helm with all the powers that Bush/Cheney attributed to the Unitary Executive, added to by Obama with his determination that the President is authorized to assassinate American citizens. Food for thought.

[BlueCheese]

2. Congress needs to assert itself.

My sense is that when the Framers wrote the Constitution, they thought that each branch of government would be constrained by the other two. The president would not become too powerful, since Congress would never give up its war power and the judiciary would not allow arbitrary rule.

These days, however, it's the parties that constrain each other. There don't seem to be principles beyond "My party is right; your party is wrong." In a better world, all of Congress would have rejected Bush's claims that he could wiretap anyone without a warrant, or arrest US citizens and hold them without charge. But the Republicans thought defending their man was more important than principle.

Today, we need Congress to step up and hold hearings on Obama's self-proclaimed power to assassinate American citizens abroad without due process. But now Democrats would probably rather eat glass than do something that might embarrass their man.

We can't trust any political party to hold back the awesome power of government. We need the legislative and judicial branches to assert themselves and do what the Framers intended.

[Radical Activist]

3. Already happened.

Where was this guy during the Bush Presidency?

[JackRiddler]

18. More than once, in fact.

Furthermore, the power lies in the executive branch and its deep state, not the admin per se.

[Kablooie]

4. America could become the Nazi Germany for the 21st century.

We were heading that direction under Bush.
We have a slight reprieve right now but if more of these right wing fanatics get control again, we could be in for a long, unpleasant descent into hell. (heil?)

[wuvuj]

10. I think it is inevitable.....

....cyclically speaking...the Rugpugs will own the WH in 6 yrs or so...and at least part of congress....and with US debt...resource depletion...ect....things are gonna GET HAIRY.

Pretty much the same scenario that led to the WW2 Nazis? Dumb George was just a practice run....

The US is already more or less controlled by the military/police? We've undergone a coup...and have a form of martial law in place....NOW.

Obama punts....while the wingers plan their takeover.....

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[smalll]

6. Professor Ackerman seems to imply that Obama is increasing the powers of the Imperial Presidency,

and needs to ratchet it back keeping in mind that the Repubs will get in again someday. (Makes sense.)

Also, he seems to imply that America is still a numero-uno world superpower without challenge. I'm sure if you asked him about that, he'd deny it vociferously, and contend that America is on a permanent power decline, leadidng to eventual irrelevancy. If so, why should the world care about our President's powers?

Finally -- "...threaten to make the presidency into a platform for charismatic extremism and abrupt swings in foreign policy..." -- and so we all think of Sarah Palin, or someone equivalent --

Um, remember when OBAMA was seen as "charismatic?" Yeah, a whole different world. Way back when in the distant mists of ancient history.

[grasswire]

7. Bush could have dialed back the unitary powers toward the end of his presidency

....in fear of a Democratic takeover, but he didn't. What does that mean? I fear it means that Bushco knew that any POTUS and any incoming administration would embrace the powers and continue along the path of eroding our protections from tyranny.

And THAT probability is extremely frightening, meaning there's a plan of cooperation between the PTB that transcends politics and citizen oversight.

[TBF]

17. +100 nt

[txaslftist]

23. We may be in economic decline...

but I think Weimar would have been written off as a broken, declined state, too?

We have a lot of potential for good or evil, and still the world's largest military arsenal by an order of magnitude.

[bluestateguy]

8. I have said this for a long time

As long as it's Obama yielding these powers, there is little to fear, but Sarah Palin is VERY intolerant of dissent, like worse than Bush and Cheney.

[TBF]

22. Intolerant of dissent -

Let's talk about the FBI showing up at the houses of peaceful anti-war protesters....

[old mark]

9. People on the Very Right think that is happening right now! Obama is their

idea of a "radical", although I can't imagine why other than he is a nominal Democrat and he is black...He might as well be a GOPer otherwise...

The Presidency has way too much power - since WWII. The problem is taht as soon as people get elected to that office, they fall in love with that power and won't give it up.

mark

[littlewolf]

11. its the same in congress ... maybe more so ....

[annabanana]

12. The Tea Party in the Driver's seat. . . We are *SO* close

to finding out..

[Javaman]

15. We are roughly living in Germany circa 1932. The days before the Reichstag fire.

History doesn't repeat, it rhymes.

9/11 was just the warm up.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

20. 9/11 **was** the Reichstag fire

The Bush Crime Family used the event to increase their power, just as the Nazis did.

[Javaman]

21. Naaa...

It was the warm up.

While it was used to institute their bizarre form of control government, I don't think it was the final false flag.

I believe there is so much more to come from these crooks.

All 9/11 was change the rules, but it didn't achieve their final means.

There will be one more false flag to finish off what is left of their opposition...us.

[Bitwit1234]

13. Republicans running are an example most are extreme

religious practicer's. Look at Thune he doesn't go out on a limb with his religious chants. BUT he is an Evangelican ...AND he is going to run for president. Look at what would happen with separation of church and state if he gets in. These extreme religious candidates can tell us all the want, they won't push their religion. But you have seen the opposite with the Evangelicans. I would not want him for president. And I just bet there are other candidates who feel the same way about exerting power once they get in. A person running for president must be mentality stable. And we find that is a good thing McCain and Palin didn't get in. Truthfully there is not an ounce of sensible brain power between them.

[Javaman]

14. Read "It can't happen here" by Sinclare Lewis for all your answers. nt

[Greyhound]

16. "If" is simply a way to soften the implications.

Like death, it is only a matter of when.
:kick: & R

[librechik]

19. You get an illegal war in Viet Nam--I mean Iraq...

This has been going on for a lot of years. It's now so entrenched that i don't see any way out of it.