President J. W. Bush bypasses American laws

Again President J. W. Bush declared that he has the power to bypass four laws. How much power does a president have?

As the Boston Globe reported on January 30, 2008, President Bush declared this week that he has the power to bypass four laws, including a prohibition against using federal funds to establish permanent US military bases in Iraq, that Congress passed as part of a new defense bill.

Wow, after he had bypassed laws before, when he invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, a war which observers like counter-terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna frequently referred to as a "fatal mistake".

Nonetheless, President Bush still moves ahead and tried to do what ever he wants but the unwillingly signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008. In spite of signing the law, President J. W. Bush asserted in his signing statement that four sections of the bill unconstitutionally infringe on his powers, and so the executive branch is not bound to obey them.

Bush said,"Provisions of the act . . . purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the president's ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as commander in chief. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President." (quoted by the Boston Globe)

And then again, Phillip Cooper, a political science professor at Portland State University, pointed out that Bush's statement does not clearly spell out the basis for any of his challenges. Cooper, who has been a pioneer in studying signing statements, said the vague language itself is a problem. Cooper continued by saying,"It is very hard for Congress or the American people to figure out what is supposed to happen and what the implications of this are."

In other words, President Bush uses once again only a vague language so that he is able to do what he has been doing all along.
The questions remains, do the Democrats, who took over Congress in 2007, really follow up on their mandate to restrain power of this President J. W. Bush?
Is there real oversight?