A Waning Presidency Rears Its Ugly Head

It's over. The Bush presidency is effectively over. While I would normally be thrilled at such news, a closer look reveals that even the bitter end is playing out as badly as one might expect from this administration.

The presidency is over insofar as Bush being able to accomplish anything legislatively wield positive foreign influence, or even persuade his fellow Republicans to so much as share an ice cream cone with him. The days of back-slapping and GOP love fests complete with Bush photo ops are over. That's all fine and dandy.

But what's not over -- and, in fact, continues unabated -- is Bush's ability to commit untold harm to the universe. Having minimal clout within his own party and no hope of accomplishing anything during his remaining days as commander-in-chief, the lame duck president has decided that he might as well do whatever he well pleases. He can commute Libby's sentence. He can let Iraq implode. He can jump however high the vice president suggests. And he can, and will, claim executive privilege until he's blue in the face.

Not only did Bush cry executive privilege and refuse lawmakers their request to hear testimony from two of his aides on the now infamous prosecutor firings but he also refused their request to hear the basis for his executive privilege invocation. He might as well have pulled down his Dockers and mooned Congress.

In response, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers basically told the president to shove it. Via TPMuckraker: "Contrary to what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally."

Not to be outdone, Senator Leahy then called the president stupid: "I have to wonder if the White House's refusal to provide a detailed basis for this executive privilege claim has more to do with its inability to craft an effective one."

Clearly the White House can't craft a claim because it doesn't have one that is legitimate. Bush counsel Fred Fielding argued in his letter of refusal that the institutional interest for remaining secretive on the prosecutor issue is "very strong." After all, the idea behind executive privilege is that a president may need to speak openly and frankly with advisors without fear of intrusion or influence. One might see how this is important in matters of national security -- you know, if you need to torture in secret. (And if you're Dick Cheney, meaning not a member of the Executive Branch, you may also need to claim executive privilege once in awhile.)

As Bush spirals downward into lame duck recklessness, giving no regard to transparency, accountability or good governance, we can at least take some comfort in knowing that Leahy and Conyers seem to be on an insatiable prowl, ready to take the White House for a serious ride if they don't start answering some basic questions. At least the American people have someone looking out for us.