Cheney's Assumption
Dick Cheney is living in a time warp.
He was Ford's Chief of Staff immediately after Watergate when the prevailing wisdom was to get the power out of the hands of the President. Ford’s Presidency was among the weakest in our country’s history. Since then, though, almost all those powers [and more] have been ceded back to the Executive Branch.

But, Cheney is still convinced that the President is weak and needs to do whatever he can to grab as much power as possible. And Bush, of course, wanting to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, will go along with Cheney’s viewpoint for his own reasons.

And, isn't it ironic? As the Cheney/Bush machine has done its power-grab it has made the office of President of the United States far weaker around the world and within its own nation than it has been at least since the Watergate era -- possibly during living memory.