Every day that Alberto Gonzalez serves as attorney general is a slap in the face to anyone who believes justice should be a priority at the Department of Justice. Every day President Bush leaves our soldiers to kill and die in Iraq is a punch in the stomach to anyone who believes national security and supporting soldiers should be a priority for the commander in chief. Every day Karl Rove obfuscates his responsibility in every scandal plaguing this administration, every day Paul Wolfowitz goes to work at the World Bank, every day Dick Cheney and John McCain slander anyone who questions their judgment is a kick in the shins to all of us.
America has been abused. This administration has taken the good name of our nation and dragged it through the mud of corruption and disgrace. It's time to take our country back.
I am aware these sentiments could upset some of the refined sensibilities inside the Beltway. In between rounds of good ol' boy backslapping at correspondence dinners and black tie galas, the David Broders ask why we can't all make nice as the cable talking heads practice reciting White House sound-bites with a straight face.
It is perhaps forgivable that so many crave a genteel, sanitized political process where everyone is addressed as "my honorable friend from the great state of milk and honey." But the Capital has been turned into a crime scene, and we wring our hands and bemoan the stridency of accountability at our democracy's peril.
When Madeleine Albright spoke here at AU a year ago, she tried to defend Clinton's inaction during the Rwandan genocide. "People don't sit in offices thinking of how to make stupid decisions," she said. It's depressing to wonder if this is still so. Did Gonzalez sit in his office for the past month thinking of how best he could destroy any remaining credibility during his congressional testimony? Did Rove sit in his office after the Libby ordeal, thinking of how he could renew criminal investigations by accidentally deleting hundreds of e-mails wanted by Congress? This administration has been producing scandals like confetti at a political convention.
Actually, a lot of governing these days has been treated like a political convention. At the Biennial AU Conference on the State of American Democracy last spring, panelist Mickey Edwards, a former Republican representative from Oklahoma, spoke a troubling truth. The oath of office for congressional Republicans, he said, was effectively to serve as members of the White House staff. Now we know even a federal prosecutor's job security can only be purchased with a loyalty oath to the Republican National Committee.
The Republican Party has become the political party today for those who want to reward incompetence, coddle ignorance and prize duplicity. This party would no doubt welcome new members (Joe Lieberman, I'm talking to you). But thankfully, there is another party, one that's finally starting to get it. Sixty-one percent of Americans want an Iraq supplemental bill that ties funds to timetables and other restrictions. The same amount of people want American troops withdrawn in a year or less.
It's time for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to recognize that we've got their back. When Gonzalez tells us 63 times he can't recall why he failed at his job, we'll be there to tell him he can think it over some more in the private sector. In every abusive relationship, a time comes when trust is trashed and patience is short. The message must be clear: Turning the executive branch into an arm of the Republican Party is not acceptable. Lying is not acceptable. The President has said, "I understand the consequences of failure." It is time for him to reap those consequences.
Jacob Shelly is a sophomore in the
School of Public Affairs and a liberal
columnist for The Eagle.
