Watching the recent gyrations on Capitol Hill over the economic bailout, I couldn't help but reflect that while there was great uncertainty about how Congress would respond to the White House economic plan, there is rarely uncertainty about another, even more serious issue: war. If the President wants it, he gets it.

When it comes to the decision to go to war, Congress since World War II has been content to act as an afterthought, rather than the President's equal. Even though it is the branch that gives voice to the concerns of ordinary Americans, Congress in recent decades has been all too willing to take a back seat to presidential authority. It has lost the skills and the political will that would allow it to be a co-equal branch of government.

Which is a shame. Going to war is the most important decision a government can make, because it means that young people will die. That decision ought not be made by one person, even if that person is the President of the United States.

Lee Hamilton is Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.