Obstruction deconstruction

He isn't just the king of the vacation (on track to smash Reagan's previous record). Oh, no. In fact, it's high time that the left gives Bush his due. He's also set a record on co-operation between the judicial and executive branches of government. So, he's a uniter after all. Sort of....

Like pardons and executive orders, vetoes are among the cherished privileges of the Oval Office. Ike liked them. So did presidents Truman and Cleveland - and both Roosevelts.

But apparently not George W. Bush. In fact, well into the fifth year of his presidency, he has yet to issue a single veto. . . .

"There is unusual coherence between Republicans in Congress and the president," Professor Mackenzie adds. "So there's very little getting to his desk that hasn't been pre-approved by the Republican leadership."

On many major bills that Bush has signed - No Child Left Behind and tax relief, for example - the veto was never a consideration because the White House itself had proposed the legislation. Yet on dozens of other bills, the president has become a rubber stamp for a spendthrift Congress, betraying his campaign image as a fiscal conservative, critics say.

"The notion of limited government and frugal government has been shattered by this administration, which cares far less about limited government than it does in building conservative government - a government with huge payoffs to corporate America," says Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.

Hip, hip, hoor..... wait a second. So the reason we're seeing such unprecedented cooperation between these two branches of government is that one controls the other? And they push their agenda in spite of public opposition? And the minority party is still somehow comprised of dastardly villains bent on blocking the president's agenda? Well, at least that's all been cleared up.

NOTE: I consider this my second professional-quality title of the day. And you losers are still getting me for free.