George W. Bush should arrange to resign and turn over the executive branch to the Obama team about eight weeks early.On the surface, it seems laughable. A two-term Republican president, resigning to give his successor from the opposing political party a jump on things?
To borrow a phrase spoken by Rob Reiner's recently departed mother in "When Harry Met Sally," I'll have what she's having.
But is it so ridiculous?
Collins presents a reasonable and logical plan. She has the wisdom to insist on certain preconditions — such as requiring that Dick Cheney resign first, so Democrat Nancy Pelosi, as next in line per the Constitution, would succeed Bush. Then Pelosi would "defer to her party’s incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing."
Collins sees even more of an up side to an early Bush departure.
"As a bonus, the Pelosi presidency would put a woman in the White House this year after all," she writes. "On the downside, a few right-wing talk-show hosts might succumb to apoplexy. That would, of course, be terrible, but I’m afraid we might have to take the risk in the name of a greater good."
The benefit to Bush's legacy, Collins suggests, would be his recognition of a reversal of public opinion and his willingness to cooperate for the good of the country.
"In happier days, Bush may have nurtured hopes of making it into the list of America’s mediocre presidents, but somewhere between Iraq and Katrina, that goal became a mountain too high," Collins writes. "However, he might still have a chance to avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel."
By making this noble gesture, Collins says, it is "possible that someday history might elevate [Bush] to the ranks of the below average. Better than Franklin Pierce! Smarter than Warren Harding! And healthier than William Henry Harrison!"
And, for that matter, more highly regarded than the man against whose approval ratings he has often been compared in the last year or so — Richard Nixon, the same president Bush's father, as Republican national chairman, urged to resign before it was fashionable to do so.
It all reminds me of something Dr. "Hawkeye" Pierce said on the "M*A*S*H" TV series in an episode in which he was being considered for one of the easiest of medical jobs in the Army — personal physician to a general, far away from combat and the "meatball surgery" in a M*A*S*H.
Hawkeye protested that he could do some real good at the M*A*S*H unit instead of periodically measuring a general's pulse and listening to him burp. "You guys always say the men come first," he said. "Well, do they or don't they?"
This would certainly be a fine way to show that the country comes first. Is George W. Bush capable of such a magnanimous gesture?
I find the suggestion intriguing, but Obama, of course, couldn't become president ahead of schedule under the existing Constitutional framework.
Pelosi would have to act as Obama's surrogate until the actual inauguration in January. She couldn't designate the president-elect as her successor and resign — the Constitution already names the next in line in case the speaker of the House is unable to continue, and you have to go through an enormous line of successors before you reach the spot currently held by the junior senator from Illinois.
The Constitution makes no provision for the inclusion of a president-elect in the line of succession before he takes office on January 20 — unless, of course, the president-elect is already in that line of succession (i.e., Vice President George H.W. Bush, when he was elected to be Ronald Reagan's successor in 1988).
The drawback, from Pelosi's perspective at least, would be that she would have to resign her congressional position to become president for eight weeks. Effectively, she would have to sacrifice her career. Would she be prepared to do that?
I must say that I find Collins' suggestion implausible. After all, we're talking about a man who still cannot identify a single mistake he has made in eight years as president.
Why would he feel obliged to leave two months early?
Collins gets high marks for creativity — but low marks for probability.
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