Commander in Chief of the U.S. Economy | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Commander in Chief of the U.S. Economy | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Some conservatives will, predictably, conclude that Obama is Saul Alinsky with nuclear weapons — and that the fate of the republic depends on defeating him in 2012.

But Obama didn't invent the notion of the president as 'CINC of our economy,' and the powers he's accrued won't disappear when he retires to Hawaii, Chicago or McLean.

It's worth remembering that it was President George W. Bush who demanded, and got, a $700 billion blank check from Congress to, in his words, 'save the free-market system.'

And it was Bush who — Congress be damned — gave GM and Chrysler $17 billion in TARP funds immediately after Congress voted down the auto bailout."