The Cult Of The King

"The idea that the Democrats, who invented the Imperial Presidency for crying out loud, are going to get rid of it with a guy who's running as the reincarnation of JFK strikes me as more than a little naive. To get a more restrained presidency in the post-9/11 era, you might actually need a Nixon goes to China dynamic, where a president whose "toughness" is unquestioned is free to ratchet down the atmosphere of permanent crisis. Ike did this somewhat in the early Cold War. McCain's reputation would allow him to do it as well, if he chose."

-- Gene Healy, author of "The Cult of the Presidency," for The American Spectator.