Not Your Sweetie

The Nixon Shadow that Hovers Over the Bush White House
By John Dean

Mr. Dean served as White House counsel under Richard Nixon. He is a columnist for
findlaw.com.

Not since Richard Nixon's presidency have the powers of Congress been in greater jeopardy.
Not only is the Bush White House seeking to expand presidential powers at the expense of
Congress, but the conservative gang of five on the U.S. Supreme Court are busy trimming
congressional powers directly.


Clearly, Vice President Dick Cheney is the force behind the White House's effort to enhance
presidential power, and limit the powers of those on Capitol Hill. This is evident because
President Bush simply does not possess the mental acumen, or experience, to play the game
his White House has instituted; but Cheney does. This is not to say Bush doesn't embrace the
undertaking, for he obviously does, but simply that Cheney is almost certainly the moving
force behind it.

Indeed, Cheney has all but admitted the point. "In thirty-four years, I have repeatedly seen an
erosion of the powers and the ability of the president of the United States to do his job,"
Cheney told ABC's "This Week" in January 2002.

His reference to "thirty-four years" is quite clear. About thirty-four years ago, in 1969, Dick
Cheney joined the Nixon Administration - serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living
Council, and later the Office of Economic Opportunity. When Nixon was forced from office,
Cheney helped Vice President Ford make the transition to the Oval Office and in 1975, Cheney
became President Ford's White House chief of staff.

Cheney's reference to the erosion of presidential powers thus appears to relate to the Nixon
presidency and Watergate, and then to the Reagan presidency and Iran-contra.