I live in Canada. We have a Prime Minister. We don't vote directly for the Prime Minister. We vote for Members of Parliament. One of those MPs becomes the leader of his/her party and then Prime Minister if his/her party achives a majority or workable minority of seats in our House of Commons.
Sure, the Prime Minister has extra powers a regular MP doesn't have. But if our Prime Minister ever gets in deep trouble, he resigns and another MP becomes Prime Minister. Because we aren't so deeply attached to our Prime Ministers, they come and go without much fuss. Not so in America. You folks are seriously crippled by the "Cult of the President."
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Put bluntly, the office of Presdent of the United States is held in far too high esteem by Americans. I mean, really, its just one guy who wins an advertising war and then gets to take over the world's largest military. Then he gets to appoint reams and reams of unelected people to powerful positions all across the spectrum of public service. His minions then move forward with his blessing, apparently only marginally inhibited by the actual body of elected officials.
It would seem that, on paper, the congress actually can control the president. But as the last six years has shown, the Congress, the media and the public in general seem very, very reluctant to unseat or seriously challenge a President that the rest of the world sees as at minimum and incompetent boob and at worst a maleavolent tool of a wide range of interests who do not have anyone else's interests in mind.
Only very recently, with the massive damage done (Trillions in deficit, hundreds of billions spent on Iraq, a hundred thousand dead, seriously wasted opportunity to good internationally instead like clean water, medicine, housing, education, etc.), do people seem ready to attack, and now only out a desperate attempt to avoid losing their re-election bids. Bush is finally down, so let's kick him. How courageous.
Look at Scott McLelland today demanding an apology for reports that the President has been misleading the world about WMD. What a fucking joke! The sad thing is, many Americans will be nodding their heads in agreement, stating the President shouldn't be challenged like that in a time of war.
Good grief! That's just a tiny example of a wide-spread problem you folks [DKOS excluded of course] are suffering from. The President is held in too high esteem. There is a cult around the President of the United States, with Hail to the Chief playing in the background and Air Force One flying against a blue sky. Please. He's a guy. He works for his contributors like anyone else.
Unfortunately, so many people and groups of people who should be effective and able to turn American society when it is heading in a wrong direction and hamstrung by this cult. They are afraid of being seen as "unamerican" by challenging the Man God.
And what a great formula. Win the election and start a war. That way nobody will want to "criticize a sitting war president." That sound like some kind of Celtic War Religion. Its nuts. Your checks and balances are way out of whack.
The Office of the President is only as good as its occupant. You can't respect the Office when a boob is sitting in it. That's not a problem with the boob, its a problem with the Office. Four years (or eight given the propensity of boobs to get re-elected) is too long for the rest of the world to wait for you folks to get things straightened out.
Get rid of the President...forever.