Hommage au maitre

George W. Bush has his Ronald Reagan moment.

One question about the Reaganolotry festival is whether it will help Bush (as it’s intended to, and as would be the natural result) or whether it will hurt Bush by reminding people that they knew Ronald Reagan and that George W. Bush is no Ronald Reagan.

The President’s ever-alert political team seems to have picked up on that possibility, and devised the perfect counterstroke. In a move that can only be called Reaganesque, the President today said that he couldn’t recall whether or not he’d read the memos telling him that as Commander in Chief he has “inherent power” to suspend all laws and ignore all treaty obligations.


(Admittedly, a carping critic might note that the Reaganesque moment had a strongly Nixonian admixture. Mr. Bush’s assertion that he hadn’t authorized any violations of the law was meaningless, because the theory of the memos is that the President can lawfully do anything he thinks necessary to protect the country, and that his orders so issued confer immunity from prosecution on anyone who follows them. Still, the answer overall had the unmistakable Reagan touch.)

Author: Mark Kleiman


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