Barack Obama seeks a new era of bipartisanship, but he should take heed of what happened to the last Democrat in the White House – Bill Clinton – in 1993 when he sought to appease Republicans by shelving pending investigations into Reagan-Bush-I-era wrongdoing and hoped for some reciprocity.
It's crazy, I know, but what's new? Humanity is a crazy thing. It invented the word crazy. Here's the crazy:
Now that Obama has won, now that the Republican party and the Republican National Committee have been made to look (by themselves, mind you) like so many rats-become-tailors arguing over who bought Sarah Palin's Cinderella wardrobe, now that Bush is thoroughly dismissed as the lamest duck'n'cover president of all time and is making great show of graciousness (that is the official media buzz term, gracious) in humbly assisting Obama's transition period, now that the Dems appear transcendentally triumphant and Joe Lieberman is now Joe the Plumber, now that suddenly everyone's remembering that Obama is also half-white (spin that any way you like)... now it suddenly seems seems sensible to be gracious in return, to let bygones be bygones, and not pursue robust, unflinching investigations into the numerous criminal activities of the still current administration.
Not only would this be gracious, says our inner Greek chorus of collective schizophrenia, it would also be prudent, even wise, to forgo such time-consuming activities in light of the many problems the soon-to-be President Obama will face: economic meltdown, two quagwars, a runaway budget with runaway crooks running away with money they get to spend but our kids will get to pay for, the increasingly likely specter of global warming, and the USA's general loss of esteem, respect, goodwill, and cooperation in the global geopolitical community.
So of course it is only fair that we should let go, scot-free, the scalawags and turdblossoms and shotgun sidekicks and grand architects of war and, most of all, the gracious patrician aristocrat who presided over all these messes and personally enacted half of them.
Of course, he couldn't have done all this alone.
Well, we tell ourselves, a truly wise man, a really great and yea, even gracious president, will do what's best for the country and devote his energies to saving us from these horrible fates even if it means letting the perpetrators escape unpunished.
After all, we're Americans. Only terrorists use human shields. Personally, I don't much like being held hostage, do you?
I love Obama. Adore everything I know about the man. Revere him. I'm what your classic, right-wing, i know you are but what am I? rebuttalist calls an Obama-worshiper. Hail the new messiah-in-chief and all that.
But if Obama lets them go, does a Ford or a Clinton, I won't begrudge him a martyr's death. Sorry Michelle, Malia, and Sasha. He's your daddy, but he's also our president. If he lets these clowns, crooks, and creeps off the hook, don't blame me if someone shoots him. There's one in every crowd.
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