The First Great Constitutional Debate of the 21st Century (Nichols | The Nation)

... So we Americans find ourselves witness to a reprise of one the greatest debates – perhaps the greatest debate -- not merely of this country's journey but of all nations.

Will it be the rule of law, tempered by shared and balanced powers?

Or will it be one man, standing about constitutions and laws and dictating his own rules?

Make no mistake, this is a genuine debate between Cheney's post-modern militancy and Obama's old-school republicanism. Cheney is the radical here. Obama is the traditionalist. And, while it is certainly true that the current president would benefit from some pressure toward a stricter construction regarding the 8th amendment, the former vice president's determination to sacrifice the Constitution on the altar of self-defined "pragmatism" has about it the stench of royalism.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/437971/the_first_great_constitutional_debate_of_the_21st_century

The first President who tipped the balance was Abraham Lincoln, not Truman. If you want to be precise about it.