A President is afforded some leeway to interpret Congressional laws which must be executed by the Executive Branch. Under our system, if the executive branch oversteps its bounds when it implements a program under its reasonable interpretation of the law, then there is an interim period between implementation of the program and eventual redress by the courts or Congress in which citizens' rights are violated. The violation of our rights during this interim period would not usually be considered as any kind of repeal or amendment of the law because redress will occur in the usual course of our process to ensure that the existing laws are honored. Therefore, Bush's interpretation and implementation of programs is just business as usual in our democracy, or so the White House often says.

If this were anyone other than the worst President in our history, then this meme might have some traction. The problem is that Bush has injected steroids into this power so that he may unilaterally change laws.  It is not business as usual when the President's interpretation of laws is based consistently on legal analysis that is twisted upside down and contrary to the majority view of courts, experts and scholars on the most basic and simple issues. It is not business as usual when the President abuses his powers to prevent the courts and Congress from providing the remedies that our system envisions to stop the violation of our rights. It is not business as usual when the President demands that the laws be changed to adopt or legalize his illegal programs retroactively. And, it is not business as usual when the President demands that these new laws also provide retroactive immunity to him and executive branch officials.  

It is one thing if a President obtains reasonable legal analysis of how to interpret laws which the Executive Branch must implement, and then the process of review by the courts or Congress can take place to redress any