Checks and Balances

Many years ago, I read a column by George Will, in which he used lots of big words, like he always does, and convinced me about the core of his argument, which was this: The Constitution does not create anything like an imperial presidency, and that Congress--especially the House--is as powerful as the president is. 

Will argued that if the president has become powerful over the years it is because Congress was not doing its job, and was yielding its powers to the president.

I am sure there are enough constitutional scholars and presidential historians who can argue this until the proverbial cows come home.  I have always understood that Congress was powerful; maybe because when I came to the country, Tip O'Neill was a powerful Speaker and everything Reagan wanted to do seemed to need the Speaker's blessings too.

The Speaker became powerful, again, during Obama's tenure, only because the uber-patriotic Republicans did not like to see in the Oval Office a black Muslim who was born in Kenya!  And after they managed to clean up the White House by electing the brave soldier who exposed the Kenyan Muslim's birth certificate, the House and the Senate controlled by his party became the President's toy poodles!

I don't always get to read George Will these days.  Whether or not he agrees with the "Wall" or with Nancy Pelosi (he made sure to let everyone know what he thinks about trump and the GOP) I wonder if he is now happy with how the Speaker is functioning as the President's equal.

The NY Times reports on how trump has been checkmated by the Speaker--and a woman at that!

For a president who prides himself on being a master negotiator, Ms. Pelosi is a different kind of opponent, and one who so far has flummoxed him.

Pelosi "is her own boss" and "under the Constitution, she is a leader of a branch of government that is equal to the chief executive."

She is!

And in the standoff against Madam Speaker, trump has lost, and cannot seem to find a way out of the shitdown mess that he created, and for which he loudly, openly, and gladly claimed the mantle!

Maybe I should look for Will's recent columns to see if he has written about this aspect during this shitdown.

Ah, yes, tomorrow I will return to Jill Lepore's book.