On Vetoes, Iran and World War III: Bush’s Press Conference

President Bush seems to be saying that yesterday’s big news that U.S. intelligence now believes Iran is not actively developing a nuclear bomb doesn’t affect his policy. I didn’t hear anything specific that might signal whether the bellicose “World War III” rhetoric, which seemed to be laying the groundwork for possible U.S. military action against Iran, is now behind us. We’ll see.

In general, I thought the president was on his game, presentation-wise, notwithstanding a weird question from a reporter who told Bush he looked tired and depressed. But in his argument that Congress needs to stop sending him bills (SCHIP, Iraq funding bills with troops reduction timetables) that he will veto, the prez provides an opening for something I’ve been meaning to point out since he started using that argument.

Let’s say, just for the sake of discussion, that the executive and legislative branches are truly “co-equal,” as they are often called. (Quick aside number one: An honest constitutional originalist would concede that the executive branch has become much more powerful than most of the framers intended. Quick aside number two: Someday someone will have to explain to me what the prefix “co” adds to the word “equal.”)

If it’s a “waste of time” for Congress to pass bills that the president opposes, why is not a waste of time for the president to propose bills (for example, a supplemental appropriation for the Iraq war that doesn’t include even a non-enforceable goal for troops withdrawals) that he knows the majority in both houses of the Congress opposes?