Less than a year

Here is an extremely frightening column from Dan Froomkin in the Post.

This is from the opening of the column:

It’s about as basic as it gets: Congress has the power of the purse. And Section 1222 of the massive defense appropriation bill enacted this week asserts that power. It reads, in its entirety:

“No funds appropriated pursuant to an authorization of appropriations in this Act may be obligated or expended for a purpose as follows:

“(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.

“(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.”

But in another of his controversial “ signing statements,” President Bush on Tuesday asserted that Section 1222 -- along with three other sections of the bill -- “purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as Commander in Chief.”

Therefore, he wrote: “The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.”

The overall message to Congress was clear: I’m not bound by your laws.

I guess one could extrapolate by the logic presented above that President Bush can decide to ignore any and all laws that he feels hinders him in any way. This kind of thinking comes from a king or a dictator not a President who's sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough.