Seth Lipsky on one of the Founders, with an eye on George III:
Hamilton knew that Americans would find their protection from would-be kings in the wisdom of the Senate. He marked this point in 69 Federalist, one of the columns he wrote back in 1788 under the pen-name Publius.
The topic of Federalist 69 is the “real character of the executive.” It makes it clear that in filling the seat once held by Justice Antonin Scalia, President Obama is at the complete mercy of the Senate — and should be.
It chafes for Obama, the boaster of having pen and phone:
It was Hamilton’s aim in the Federalist columns, which he wrote with James Madison and John Jay, to convince New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution. One of the things New Yorkers feared was that a president might take on kingly powers.
Like, say, the sort held by the tyrant George III (and coveted by Barack Obama). Hamilton wrote of judges that what the president had was the power to “to nominate, and, WITH THE ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE, to appoint.”
Upper case was Hamilton’s, Lipsky notes.
Blithe Spirit 