The emaciated executive? (Insider Report).

Paul Begala summarized the Clinton administration's operative principle with his notorious maxim: "Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool." But according to George W. Bush, he inherited from Clinton a sadly diminished office, in power as well as prestige.

President Bush insists that "the inherent powers of the presidency have eroded to an unsettling degree over the past 30 years and he is moving to reclaim the lost prerogatives of the nation's highest office," reported Bill Staub in a May 20th "news analysis" for Scripps Howard News Service. "He has drawn a distinct line that he has suggested that no one dare cross." "I have an obligation to make sure that the presidency remains robust and that the legislative branch doesn't end up running the executive branch," insists Mr. Bush.

Presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer insists that presidential powers have been diminished "in multiple ways" through a "long-standing, gradual process." For example, the president "has little say in how the nation's budget is devised and constraints on how he uses the military," writes Staub by way of summarizing the Bush administration's complaints. Of course, the Constitution specifies that it is Congress - especially the House, which must originate revenue bills - that controls the nation's purse. And the president's role as commander in chief is limited, with only Congress authorized to declare war.

According to legal analyst Bruce Fein, who worked in the Justice Department under Ronald Reagan, "What the president is claiming is legally and historically absurd" since the United States "has never had a more imperial presidency [than Bush's], at least [not] since Roosevelt during the conduct of World War II."