Constitutional dictators

"As things stand today. . . power has replaced law, usurpation has replaced amendment, and executive fiat has replaced constitutionalism." Strong words indeed! What may surprise some readers is that they were written by political scientist David Gray Adler at the conclusion of a dour article on "Clinton, the Constitution, and the War Power" that amply documented a number of unilateral actions, in a variety of foreign countries, taken by our forty-second president that certainly raise profound constitutional questions. Writing before the conclusion of the 2000 election, Adler offered the "hope that a future election might produce a president" more inclined to stay within at least Adler's understanding of constitutional norms. Little did he know! One is tempted to echo King Lear, "The worst is not, So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'" We can only hope, in a perverse sense, that Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, really was the worst president we will have, for, after all, we have survived it, and there is a widespread sense, which I certainly share, that Barack Obama promises us a return to law and constitutionalism.