Bush: More Irrelevant, More Dangerous

This president is as lame a duck as there's ever been. The people have dealt him a defeat with immigration reform that makes him almost irrelevant, in terms of the clout he wields in Washington:

The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.

There is also the possibility of impeachment. The problem is that Mr.Bush might decide to take desperate action in order to salvage his disastrous administration. He could decide to wag the dog. That could mean a new war:

Bush watched as the Senate on Thursday killed an immigration bill he wanted badly. He saw a chance to offer tough-but-fair legalization to unlawful immigrants, shore up the border and let temporary workers come to the United States. His critics, including many conservatives from his own party, saw an amnesty bill that was unpopular and untenable.

For now, an increasingly isolated administration is preparing for war with a Democratic controlled Congress (also his fault):

President George W. Bush's failed attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform may prove he's not much of a consensus builder on Capitol Hill, but when it comes to playing rough with Congress, he clearly knows what he's doing. Bush stiff-armed the House and Senate judiciary committees Thursday, dispatching his lawyer to assert executive privilege and tell them he won't comply with their subpoenas for documents in the case of the fired U.S. attorneys. Backed by letters from the Justice Department's top lawyers, Bush effectively told Congress to go to hell.

Bush is just making up rights for himself as he goes along:

The Democratic Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Bush was engaging in "Nixonian stonewalling" but there's a method to the White House's approach. Legally, Bush may be stretching executive privilege by claiming it allows him to prevent private citizens from responding to a Congressional subpoena, but politically he's just playing hardball.