To be honest- part of the reason I tend to refer to regimes and administrations is that I don't feel the President himself is all that powerful.

Don't get me wrong- he has the power to make some extremely huge decisions that affect this country and the entire globe. BUT, there is too much information to take in and too many things to know- its a team effort.

When they say "Bush released his budget for 2004" - how much of the budget do you think Bush actually sat down and wrote? Did he even LOOK at it- or was he just briefed on the highlights?

When "Bush" does this or that- it is usually a whole team of people- not Bush. In my opinion, there are "underlings" in D.C. who are lifers- they watch Presidents come and they watch Presidents go. They are the ones with the connections and the power. I don't mean to come off like a conspiracy theorist- I just mean that if you spend 30 years on Capitol Hill you gain a lot more power than 1 4-year term.

So, that said, my answer to the last half of your thing is that GWB may not gain anything personally. His gains will be the financial gains he makes through the cronyism he is implementing in his Iraq rebuilding project. But, the government at large will be more than happy to retain their newly awarded power if "we the people" don't keep them honest and make sure those expiration dates are stuck to.

It has been used time and time again, but Benjamin Franklin's quote is VERY valid in these days and times: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security"