when you think about what people were talking about one year ago on the campaign trail, it is hard to even think of three or four of the most crushing -- pressing issues because it has been consumed by the economic crisis and the problems we did not know existed with the banking sector. . . this has completely wiped republicans of the new england

landscape. it has treated a different dynamic within the party. -- has created a different dynamic within the party. it makes it easier for obama to play to the middle and disappointed liberals as he has already and will continue to on both big issues and important domestic issues like climate change legislation. certainly the last four or five months have been enormously busy but also a successful months for congress and the president. they have worked together on some enormous bills that have passed in a very short amount of time. this is a congress that has done very little over the last four or five years. there's a lot of pent-up desire

for action so we saw a lot of bills go right to the process. once they had a president that was willing to sign them it happened. the stimulus was obviously the largest of those, but there were some other significant bills that passed with that -- without a lot of attention. this is an issue that would have been an enormous point just a few years ago but now it is being digested relatively easily. again, i think that is suggesting, as the landscape has shifted and how much bigger the problems have become. the budget that past few weeks ago was a really significant achievement for democrats because it's enshrine all of the

basic priorities of the administration and a set up leave from work to make things like health care reform and big energy initiatives and education changes possible. again, it is hard to fully absorb the enormity of changes that are underway right now. one of the best examples i can think of this arnie duncan, education secretary, we're not paying a lot of attention to him at the moment. there's a story a few days ago of how they're going to spend $5 billion in stimulus money to take over 5000 a troubled schools around the country. the federal government is interacting with local schools on a scale that would have been

politically defining just a few years ago. that is now something that has slipped on by just unnoticed. that has enormous implications. it has implications for education and many other things as well. the key to all of this is i think the culture of chaos and the question of how long it will last i think is an important one and determining the dynamic between the president and the success of these big initiatives -- and in ports and one in determining the dynamic between the president and the success of these big initiatives. as a size of the economy starting to stabilize, you can already see the power of destruction taking hold, for instance, the nancy pelosi story this week and revisiting this

question and rather heated debate over the use of terror techniques against suspects. the less chaos the less sense of emergency and the easy those kind of stories take root and threatens to derail that -- initiatives that are important to the president and the majority party. health-care reform will obviously be the bigger challenge going forward. addressing some of these big issues like illegal immigration, which it is a big portion of the unemployed population, there are among the most expensive people who are off the books. if they're going to address health-care problems, how are we going to address that problem? a lot of things that were easy to push through just a few

months ago are going to stop people in their tracks. the president is able -- i mean, this president is not a hands-on president. he does not show up on the hill on a regular basis interacting with the lawmakers' the way that president clinton often did. he does not fall in love with his own ideas. however, he has an agenda and he cares very deeply about the main issues of that agenda. he is a very powerful and successful salesman. the congress's willingness to see it so much of the authority to him and to grant him so much of his own terms has worked for them so far. -- the congress's willingness to

seed so much of the authority to him. when some of these flash points start to come into sharper focus, it could be over the supreme court nomination, it could be asian -- it could be an important piece of legislation, there'll be some sharper edges developing and the real dynamic will start to become more clear. it has not been a clear so far. there has been -- there has not been an enormous amount of its units amenity -- >> it was really refreshing getting ready for this. i did. -- i did a reading. i believe the academic environment until after my third degree when my mother told me to

get out and get a real job. i sometimes regret that. now i work in the television business where everything is day to day. i did cable for 11 years and it was hour by hour. now, twitter is minute by minute. i will be twittering that, i just want everyone to know. it is refreshing to take in the big picture here because and all the months ahead and covering president obama i have not once but the question, "will obama adopt the style of the previous administration or will he accept congress as an equal partner?" it is really just a day today. it to get started, i have decided to go to my basement and victor sun boxes and i found my very last paper that i wrote as a student. this was called "the executive

legislative balance in foreign policy." if anyone got -- if anyone has a black pen, i would like to change this to an a +. i'm so much smarter than i was as a student. i'm going to read the whole thing now. there are a couple of great quotes in here. a kind of highlight what the president is. what does it take to be president? terry mentioned wanting to be on mount rushmore. they all love to be on mount rushmore, including this one. he said i'm not sure there's enough rock to fit my years up there. that is a yes as far as i'm concerned. -- there is not enough barack to fit mine ears up there. teddy roosevelt said and laughed at think it should be a very powerful office and i think the president should be a very

strong man, did not even concerned -- consider the word person, but because of this fact i think he should be sharply watched by the people and held to strict accountability. having looked at that and figured out that, yes, all presidents went to be on mount rushmore and have as much possible -- as much power as possible, i looked at the question. it is this president would to be an imperial president breaking to the conclusion that yes, he does. next week, i could change my mind but just for the sake of argument i'm going to make the stance that he does. he wants to be a stealth imperial president and he is doing a darn good job of it. i'm going to touch on five reasons why i believe the conditions are set right now for him to be able to do that. one of the things a discussed in this paper and many people have discussed is that the president's power always increases in a time of crisis. in 1930's isolationism, congress

had power pre-world war ii, roosevelt becomes an imperial president. the sinking happen with johnson in vietnam. we do the same thing happened with johnson in vietnam. things started to swing back toward the executive with reagan. there has been a series of swings and i think there is a big swing going on now that started on the day of 9/11 that obama is now continuing. the first crisis is at war. the first two panelists noted that this president sounded like a region level during the campaign, his release start -- he is really stuck to a lot of bush's positions on national security with military tribunals, indefinite detention in afghanistan, state secrets fit, withholding torture photos. he has found a middle ground on a lot of things, but let's face it. he has disappointed the liberal aclu types.

some have accused the president of exercising czar-like powers. reason number two is the economy. we already know how many billions and even trillions of dollars have been basically put other to help rescue the economy without even a say so by congress at this point. we have a crisis, the president gets more power. number three is that people love obama. in that roosevelt ", he said -- in that roosevelt quote, he said the president should be a powerful man and watched by the people and tell to strict accountability. i am not sure he is right now, because i think congress has capitulated again and again, and i think gladly, the republicans do not much but they do not have the power to do anything about it at this point. it is in the nature of the president, the kind of person who runs for president, to seek more power. right now, he is going to

continue to do that. the fourth thing is the people love him so the accountability is not there and the democrats in congress love him to the accountability is not there. the fourth reason is that it is the nature of people who run for president to watch that kind of power. once they get there, i think they change. the torture photos are a great example. it was very easy for him to argue during the campaign that everything needs to be out there. as president, when the defense department cans to him and says people could die -- when the defense department comes to him as a people could die if you sign on the dotted line to release these photos, as president his judgment has changed simply because of where he is sitting. the fifth reason, i believe that all the conditions are set for the spring of the pendulum and direction of a stealth imperial

presidency is his style. he is nonthreatening. when george bush got out there and had all that tough talk, i think it turned democrats rabidly against him. when obama says he screwed up or when has that kind of self- deprecating way about him, i think it allows people, even republicans, to back off a little bit even though he is very quietly accumulating an enormous amount of power. this is happening because of the lack of the of connally, crisises, because people love him, and because of his style. -- the lack of accountability, crisis, because of the people who love him. there are a number of reasons for this. we cannot predict what is going to happen in the future, but -- and i am looking at a very black and white world year, but if you solve these problems and crises go away. without crisis, progress will gradually begin to assert itself

more. if he does not solve these problems in the crises worsened, -- and the crises worsened, the next elections for congress and the presidential elections after that, the pendulum will swing back in the not too distant future. but, for this in your terms, conditions are ripe for him to accumulate more and more power and for him to do it in a way that no one is objecting to it with people who are objecting do not have the power to do much about it. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for letting me be the cleanup hitter on this panel. i never played a clean up there, but i was the coach. [laughter] one bad thing about it is everyone has said something good so far, so i will try to clean up what little we have left here. from time to time, i have had occasion to talk to groups of senior executive branch staff,

personnel that are doing orientations on congress before they go to the hill for a fellowship program that the executive branch does. one of the things i like to do is to take a little poll and i will tell you what the results are with the executive branch folks in this estimate of balance of powers. who is more powerful the president, congress, or is it about equal? assembling and looking at the presidency today, how many of you think the president is more powerful and dominant in the congress. raise your hands. ok. how many of you think congress is more powerful than the president? raise your hands. how many of these think it is about equal? ok, two or three. when i had sessions with the executive branch people, invariably they all say congress is more powerful and the president and the executive branch. there was one exception to this one time a woman held up for

hand and asked why. she had a little bit of a different perspective. as a former house staffer myself for 20 years, what i tell these executive-branch people, most would say that the president and the executive branch far outweigh the congress when it comes to power. they are a little astounded at that, just as how i was astounded at how many people flood congress was dominated the executive branch. i would maintain that this goes back a century, of the teddy roosevelt is not to mckinley with the spanish-american war when we saw the modern presidency emerging and reemerged as a world power. i expect -- i suspect why all the civil service think otherwise is that the think of congress as a constant irritant,

a micromanage her. there are all sorts of reporting requirements on these agencies and it eats up their budgets with these senseless earmarks. i think it is one perspective you have to keep in mind on my the executive branch folks see congress as a dominating. -- don why the executive branch folks see congress as a dominating force. they see a president who is at the center of the news everyday making pronouncements that congress much responded to issuing budget proposals that congress merely tinkers with at the edges and articulating foreign defense and policies. political science has given a variety of names to the presidency'ies -- presidencies.

the rhetorical presidency, national-security, administrative, the unified executive, the imperial presidency these are just to name a few. i suspect by the next time there is a conference to in toronto just before labor day, there will be a few more terms that will be attached to the presidency, global economy presidency, the hope and change presidency. by way of contrast to how many of you can't think of modifiers that are regularly put in front of congress when they talk about congress? you pause and think of one or two. how about "do nothing?" i think perhaps more important is how long the staff thinks about the balance of powers or how the american people tend to look at it. i would maintain that not withstanding nixon and

watergate, carter and the energy economic anin iran, wiretaps, most people still see the presidency as being as strong as ever and it is accepted as a listed -- necessity. whether or not congress should be akko legal branch of government, there would probably throw up their hands and say no. -- on whether or not congress should be a co-equal branch of government. despite all the obvious dangers and pitfalls, the answer we always come up with is about the same. people believe that to some justification that only a strong, central figure can lead the nation during world wars or economic depressions, against the current terrorist threat. the president speaks with one voice to the nation and to the world.

congress on the other hand as seen is a tower of babel. -- is seen as a tower of babel. fdr waited after kennedy to write the his biography. slashing a meeting very interesting confession region schlessinger -- schlessinger talk about presidential power in that book. american historians and political scientists labored to give the expansive theory of the presidency nexsanction. scholars developed an uncritical called of the activist presidency. while schlessinger died last

year, i think the cult of the actor presidency is still alive and with us today. i think it is what american children learn in school, college students learn in their political science class is taught by a presidential centric world. activism is acquainted with the greatest in a president. again, the american media are also culpable in perpetuating this cult of the activist president. again, i was in reference a study that was released a few weeks ago by the center for media and public affairs. of the first 50 days of the america -- obama presidency, 28 hours was devoted to his presidency compared to bush. most of the obama evaluations were positive compared to 33% for bush.

if anything, i think the call to the activist presidency is not only being reinforced but has been enlarged and enhanced through the media lines. that is not to say that the media has made facture this cult or this perception. it was already there as evidenced during the campaign. since the election, the excitement that was created. the election was about change and obama has bottomed -- has gone about that with all the powers available. the media coverage is into affects both the public interest and excitement surrounding obama and his calculating efforts to embody activist presidency to his daily schedule and troubles. while we were having lunch, he mentioned he was on a plane yesterday at the time he was a custody filing reports city could not file a report. the president has been getting around quite a bit in this country and around the world.

there was an attempt in the city i mentioned whether -- to ask how much coverage was given to congress and how much was positive. statistically this is insignificant. in answer to the question is there a balance of powers, my response is an emphatic and resounding yes. it is so lopsided that i think the president is off the charts. every president has been, even though some residents have been weaker and the less popular. overall, i think the presidency has been very powerful notwithstanding mr. cheney's plan that it was crippled. will congress for the people ever demanded restoration of the balance of power between the branches as the founders had intended? i think the answer to that question will have to wait for another symposium as we look further this presidency down the road. for now, i think we can assume the the democratic congress is content to defer, acquiesce to

their party's activist president. if he succeeds, they succeed, and they know that. if he does not succeed, the more research independence as a co- equal branch. >> thank you very much. publicly the panelists open for questions after that a. -- after that note. the assumption is often made that the presidency has been advantaged in the media and age. a camera can focus more readily on a single individual as opposed to a complex institution like congress and their for the presidency as an institution has been elevated by media attention to those who are arguing.

an alternative argument can be made based on the same technology. that is that the presidency has suffered from the unblinking stare the television cameras. -- stare of the television cameras. this gives the president a megaphone to get public attention, but democratic people's being what they are tended to become impatient over time with presidents. perhaps more importantly, congress is not without its advantages. the drip, drip, drip of congressional oversight creditors always someone there to criticizing the president read the press naturally turns to whoever on the hill is going to criticize the president. there's always someone there among the five and 35 members on capitol hill.

-- 535 members on capitol hill. the grinding down of president bush's popularity over time was admittedly due to part of the economy and war, but was also due to part of the effort on -- of congressional democrats. john, would be willing to start with that? >> i would be happy to start with that. i think president obama is very much aware that the camera never blinks and that is why you use teleprompter is in his press conferences. i worked with john anderson for many years and we fought like mad to get the house televised. tim o'neill did not want congress to be seen in a bad light but, but finally we did get television. the cameras only showed the person's sleeping, not those sleeping and picking their

noses. -- the cameras only showed the person speaking, not those sleeping. the democrats finally came around to tell as congress, but it is still not able to speak with one voice. as you mentioned, it still allowed us all kinds of critics of the administration to have their say. i think the people, at least for now, there is such a good will for obama that they are a little irritated and the people are already complaining about the administration before his policies have a chance to work. >> does anyone else want to respond on that? >> i would just point out that one of the many factors that makes this presidency and this current situation unique is that the president, the vice president, and the chief of staff are all former members of congress. they have a firsthand

experience across. ron emmanuel -- rahm emmanuel is intimately knowledgeable. joe biden has been a senator almost as long as i have been on life. he has been at the forefront of every major policy debate since the early 1970's. of course, obama has the least amount of experience, but nevertheless i think that gives them an ingrained sense of what is possible, what their limits are. we have seen a little friction, surprisingly little friction, i think that is in part because they're so sensitive to how congress operates and to the