Monday, January 12, 2009

Thank you, Pete Townshend

If I were pretentious I'd be outraged. It would be a scandal. I would quote Churchill or Lincoln or Shakespeare.

But since I don't think of myself as pretentious I'm just plain old ordinary, garden variety aggravated....not angry, yet...but irritated beyond measure.

Obama hasn't even taken the oath of office yet (although everybody, including W., is acting like it) and already he's giving Bush/Cheney a pass.

Even Henry Waxman seems to be cahoots. Only Frank Rich of the Times appears to be saying that the administration should be held accountable for what he calls "malfeasance."

I call it "highway robbery." And a lot of other "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Let's review: Iraq (war and reconstruction...hello Amb. Bremer, how's your Medal of Freedom?), Katrina, Wall Street, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Wiretaps, Prosecutorgate...did I say Iraq...?

There are so many instances in which it seems like the administration acted as a rogue government, completely disregarding the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Now maybe they didn't. Maybe everything really does have to do with 9-11.

Maybe the President did act with the national interest in mind.

Maybe the Vice President did subordinate his own desires to those of his Commander in Chief.

Maybe the meltdown on Wall Street is a result of market forces and policies set in place long ago.
Maybe the Geneva Conventions really don't apply.

Maybe there's a Santa Claus (unemployed but there just the same)

I'm willing to extend anybody the benefit of the doubt...even this bunch.

But where is the outcry (that's the other word I was looking for at the beginning...not "scandal"...scratch "scandal"...insert "There would be an outcry")?

Where is the public indignation (another good word..."where have you gone William Safire...?") at the fact that the incoming administration isn't even going to look at the possibility that there were crimes committed let alone prosecute...?

Was there a quid pro quo? Was there an agreement with somebody in a trench coat in a parking garage late at night? Maybe the Republicans threw the election and one of the provisos was a lack of investigations after the fact. How else can you explain the silence on the issue? How else can you explain Obama's remarks? How else can you explain Sarah Palin?

Maybe Bush/Cheney, et al, did nothing immoral or illegal during the past 8 years.

But wouldn't it be nice to know that? Wouldn't their collective legacy benefit? Wouldn't the country and its' reputation be served by a comprehensive investigation by an impartial group?

And to hell with the idea that an investigation would be seen as too partisan. Maybe that's the point. Maybe an investigation would reveal that the Republicans did get it all wrong. Maybe an investigation would demonstrate that there is a better, more moral way to conduct our national affairs than the way they've been doing it in Washington over the past 8 years. Maybe the Democrats are on to something.

Looks like we'll never know. Business as usual. "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

Come to think of it, maybe I am outraged...!

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