I'm waiting for Junior to have his Richard III moment when he asks, with no sense of irony,

"can anybody rid me of this special prosecutor..."

My brain hurts.

It was actually Henry II, not Richard III who said, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

Indeed Marcus, thought it was said of Richard II, by Henry IV, formerly known as Bolingbroke, in another way--""Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?""

Personally, I'm looking forward to GWB's kingdom for a horse moment.

several segments of Schoolhouse Rock

Aw yeah, baby.
o/~ establish justice and
domestic tran-QUI-lity o/~

/bobs head up and down

Ok, Marcus-- turns out you're right. I thought it was Richard III. I went to wikiquote.org and the Bushiest thing from RIII I found, in the fifth act is

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.

However I don't see Georgie ever showing that level of introspection, although I guess he could surprise us.

And Saheli, I'm waiting for that too.

All of which begs the question: how many acts are left?

The founding fathers had all read their Livy.

From time to time through the period of the Roman Republic, the longest continuous republican government to exist on this earth, it became necessary (in times of crisis) to elect a dictator. The dictator would be invested with complete and absolute power over every person and institution in the republic, in order to preserve Rome. Always, he began by pounding a sacred nail into the Temple of Jupiter, and then he'd be off.

Surprisingly, for a little less than four hundred years, some fifteen dictators who were elected by this method all stepped down from power immediately after the threat was over. You may read about their individual exploits in a series of books written by Livy.

The founding fathers of the United States saw a practical aspect in this, particularly once Washington got his show on the road--and it was presumed that once the president took that power, he (like a good Roman) would renounce it after the crisis was passed.

Rome, however, had its Marius. And you Americans...well...we're not really sure what you've got yet, are we? I guess we'll see if the present reigning party allows itself to ever be voted out of office.

Jump in any time, Sulla.

President Clinton exercised the powers of the imperial presidency to the utmost in the area in which those powers are already at their height -- in our dealings with foreign nations. Unfortunately, the record of the administration has not been a happy one, in light of its costs to the Constitution and the American legal system. On a series of different international relations matters, such as war, international institutions, and treaties, President Clinton has accelerated the disturbing trends in foreign policy that undermine notions of democratic accountability and respect for the rule of law.

-- John Yoo, The Imperial President Abroad, in "The Rule of Law in the Wake of Clinton"

Holy Shit! That last post from Cal hurt my brain a lot!

I'm trying, Alexa.

Can't be king without your money. Can't be emperor without your army. Can't be dictator unless you make him.

Aaron, what do those of us with hurty brains do for relief?

But you see, to us dammed furriners it does look like Americans elect a king every four years, and appear to have been doing so since at least the sixties. If LBJ and Nixon could destroy three countries without even bothering to declare war, where is this supposed congressional oversight?

It seems also that the President being most untrammeled in exercise of his powers in relation to his role as commander-in-chief might go some way to explaining why the US executive spends so much of its time making war.

the Roman Republic, the longest continuous republican government to exist on this earth

What, longer than San Marino?

RobW: We NEVER elect Kings, we OFTEN elect MORONS.

Jon:

With John Yoo and Michelle Malkin, we can be sure that the Asian-American community will head towards White levels of dumbness. You won't have to be alone in assuring us of the dumbness of white people anymore.

I can only assume he confused the Federalist Society and the Federalist Party.

Cato correctly concluded that in the realm of practical politics, the President's authority under the Constitution did not differ in important measure from that of the King, unless the President is a member of a party other than mine.

RobW. I stand corrected. I should have added the adjective 'significant.'