Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

The words we choose to use are important. I’ve already noted some of the ways in which Bush has worded things to suggest a lack of respect for the other branches of government including threatening to go ahead with the escalation of the war regardless of what Congress does. Nancy Pelosi responded with words which frame the issue correctly when she said, Bush “should not abuse his power” with regard to troop escalation in the Iraq war and said it is the duty of Congress to “exercise oversight over his power.”

Abuse of power has been an underlying problem with the Bush administration from the beginning. He got away with it when he had a Republican Congress that was willing to go along. Now that Congress is willing to exert its Constitutional responsibilities, with a mandate from the people, we may be in for some major confrontations. Some issues will likely be decided by the Supreme Court which contains many of the same members who prevented a Florida recount to place him in office. While I fear that some members support too much power in the Executive branch, it cannot be assumed the full Court will necessarily side with Bush on fundamental Constitutional issues. While Pelosi has stated that impeachment is not planned, should Bush abuse his power during her term as Speaker she may see a need to reconsider this.