He sure is an independent one. But, the Pres doesn't get to do much. Everything aside from the Commander In Chief stuff is done by Congress. The rest is for show.
"The rest is for show."
Yeah, determining who runs the BATFE and how they run it, who runs the INS / ICE programs are just 'show' things that a president does.
The Bush administration’s first attorney general, John Ashcroft, asked the Justice Department’s top legal minds to study whether the Second Amendment protected an individual right. DOJ’s office of legal counsel reviewed the Second Amendment’s text, as well as its historical origins as far back as 17th century England, and concluded that: “the Second Amendment secures a personal right of individuals to keep and bear arms, not a collective right that may only be invoked by a State or a quasi-collective right restricted to those persons who serve in organized militia units.”
They filed this memorandum with the USSC as the government opinion on the meaning of the second amendment. And we all know what recently happened in the DC Federal courts.
Victory!
The Bottom Line | The message for gun owners is obvious--elections matter. They matter from the bottom of the government to the top, from the smallest issue affecting gun owners to the largest. In the critical elections of 2008, pro-Second Amendment candidates can only win if gun owners rally in support of those candidates who support our rights.
Is this a battle you are ready to concede?
Do you think Rudy will declare support for this memorandum? And carry it on as the official policy of the Federal government?
My point is that I expect Republicans will show more backbone against a democrat gun grabber then they would one of their own party. If Rudy is the nominee then constitutional conservatives face a lose, lose situation. It couldn't come at a worse time either.
Except small details like vetoing legislation, issuing executive orders, controlling the policies and actions of executive agencies and selecting judges and justices.
Other than that, besides being Commander in Chief, being President certainly is all show.