“Joe Biden hardly brings the glamour and excitement to his ticket that Sarah Palin does to hers, but he surely warmed civil libertarian hearts at the vice-presidential debate when he forcefully denounced ‘dangerous’ theories designed to ‘aggrandize the power of a unitary executive.’ After seven years of an administration that has recognized few, if any, limits on executive power, it’s only natural that many people look to the Obama-Biden ticket to put the presidency back in its proper constitutional place. But there are good reasons to doubt that an Obama administration would meaningfully de-imperialize the presidency. From Truman and Johnson’s undeclared wars to the warrantless wiretapping carried out by FDR, JFK, LBJ and Nixon, the Imperial Presidency has long been a bipartisan phenomenon.” (10/15/08)