Editorial: Bush in the bully pulpit

It is all well and good to celebrate the cautious baby steps being taken by Congress to reassert itself as a check and balance on the executive branch excesses of the monarchical Bush administration. When even Republicans, such as Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, are publicly admitting that the House and Senate failed during the first six years of the Bush interregnum to practice even minimal oversight, there is perhaps a measure of hope for the republic.

But that hope will not be realized if we wait for Congress to develop the spine it has been deprived of since the Watergate era. There must be an external check and balance on the executive branch, and that will only happen if the media abandon the bended-knee position from which they have covered the Bush administration.