Remember when Bill Clinton insisted that “I am still relevant”?

I wonder if Congress is relevant any more. Yesterday, when Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke advocated legislation that divests Congress of most of its constitutional powers regarding the economy, members of Congress meekly sat there, instead of calling the Sergeant at Arms and having Paulson and Bernanke arrested.

Now Bruce Fein, a careful constitutional scholar and Reagan Administration legal advisor, calls on Congress to exercise another of its powers — to hold impeachment hearings regarding the lies that Dick Cheney told Dick Armey in his effort to get Armey’s support for the Iraq War.

Will the majority Democrat Congress do its duty? Or will it merely coast to victory without rocking the boat? Perhaps candidate McCain should attack this Congress head on: “why do you complain about Bush-Cheney’s power grabs, when you fail to use the constitutional power that you already have?”

Or, perhaps not.

The Best of Christopher Manion