Helen Thomas: "Bush Legacy Already Established--President Seems To Have Hard Time Abiding By Law"

TheBostonChannel.com

President George W. Bush should stop worrying about his legacy. It’s already established.

By his deeds you shall know him; preemptive war, torture and wiretapping, for starters.

Nothing said in history can wipe out those flaws in his administration. And no revisionist historian down the road can diminish the importance of those acts. He has governed with threats -- and by nourishing fear in the American people.

The president seems to have a hard time abiding by the law. Referring to his struggles with Congress during his first year in office, Bush joked that ``a dictatorship would be heck of a lot easier.”

But it is no joke that he has found ways to circumvent the constitutional restraints of his office with signing statements and secret directives.

Bush also has been able to execute his power grab by playing the fear card -- and with hardly a peep from a cowed Congress. This tactic has worked most of the time.

Now, fortunately, the administration is encountering some pushback from Capitol Hill, from those who reject the chipping away of our civil liberties and the tarnishing of our reputation in the world among those who once respected our leadership.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If we are willing to give up our liberty for security, we are in danger of losing both.” Hopefully, more lawmakers will realize the wisdom of those words.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives the president a wide berth to invade the privacy of Americans. True, a warrant is needed for eavesdropping but in a dire emergency, wiretapping can begin and the warrant obtained later, after the eavesdropping.

What’s the problem with persuading a judge before starting the wiretap? “It’s cumbersome,” says the administration........