The Making of an Imperial President

Ross Douthat says that it is Congress' fault:

• Congress is unsexy, frustrating and hard to follow, mass democracy seems to demand a single iconic figure into whom desires and aspirations and hatreds can be poured.
• It isn’t just that he’s been dealing with an opposition party that’s swung to the right; it’s that this opposition doesn’t know its own mind, collectively or sometimes even individually
• it’s become clear that certain major liberal priorities — a big climate-change bill, a comprehensive amnesty — are as out of legislative reach as health care reform proved for Clinton

He is more on target when he says that public expectations have changed.  They have changed because the leadership has cultivated that change.  He is more on target when he discusses Obama's ambition, too.  But that is what is driving the entire movement---the ambition of politicians.  As long as Douthat and the rest of the country accept the premises of larger, more powerful government, the Imperial Presidency is all but inevitable.

Finally, he says that he believed in Obama's sincerity with respect to a toned down executive.  Really?  In his heart, Douthat probably doesn't mind what Obama is doing.  After all, he's only doing it in order to "get things done".  Since when does this need for "getting things done" have higher priority over maintaining limited government?  For these guys, limited government is a problem, not a solution.  Their alleged concern for Bush's tendencies toward imperial governance is pure baloney.  The left cannot possibly be sincere about that.  It was an election gimmick.