War and the War Presidency

I think that this distinction between President and "War President" and how we no longer possess the former is really really important.  I don't have time to talk about it now, but I definitely will share my thoughts on the development.

"In any event, the U.S. is, more or less, a nation permanently at war.  One can debate whether all or some of our wars are good or not, but what can't be debated is that we fight wars far, far more than any other country -- basically, continuously.  That's just a fact.  After Bush 41's invasion of Panama, R.W. Apple wrote on the front page of The New York Times that the invasion "constituted a Presidential initiation rite" whereby:

For better or for worse, most American leaders since World War II have felt a need to demonstrate their willingness to shed blood to protect or advance what they construe as the national interest.

In other words, there's no such thing as an American President who is not a "war President."  We never go more than a few years without some kind of a direct war, and are always waging covert and indirect ones.  American presidents are inherently "war presidents."  We don't really have any other kind.  To vest a specific power in a President on the ground that he's a "War President" is to vest that power in presidents generally and permanently.

That's why this media construct that things are different for "war presidents" -- we have to give "war presidents" greater power and leeway; demand less transparency and accept more secrecy; acquiesce to abridgments of civil liberties when "America is at war"; and, coming soon under the Change banner, allow them the right to imprison peopleindefinitely with no trials even beyond "war zones" -- is so manipulative and misleading.  It implies that "America at war" is some sort of unusual and temporary circumstance rather than what it is:  our permanent state of affairs.  In perfect Orwellian fashion, our allies can easily become our enemies (Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Mujahideen precursors to Al Qaeda) and our enemies can just as easily become our allies (Iraqi Sunnis, Gadaffi), but what never changes is our status as a war-fighting nation."

Quote via Glenn Greenwald