If American politics has taught me anything, it's that you can't go wrong by keepin' it real. When Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis., was recently confronted by a Marine mom and a cameraman questioning why he wouldn't vote to end funding for the war, Rep. Obey told the simple truth.
"We couldn't even get the votes to pass a nonbinding resolution one week ago. How the hell do you think we're going to get the votes to cut off the war?" Rep. Obey tersely said in the YouTube video. Mr. Obey went on to open his coat and ask another impromptu interrogator, "You see a magic wand in my pocket?"
"No sir."
"Then how the hell are we going to get the votes for it?"
Rep. Obey should be praised for leveling with this Marine mother and the other liberal activists waiting outside his office. Protest is an indispensable tool to vent popular disgust with government, but activists shouldn't blame cautious Democrats for refusing to immediately end funding for the war. Our political system is designed to be slow, for better or worse. So, the best legislators can do is attempt to build consensus by applying gradual pressure to the president. The war in Iraq will end through these incremental battles in Congress, not by taking the stage and screaming for an immediate pullout on C-SPAN2.
Rep. Obey's frankness has been sorely missed in today's political dialogue, especially when compared to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lying to the American people about why he fired eight U.S. attorneys. After claiming they were relieved due to poor performance, numerous Department of Justice records contradicting this claim — including loyalty rankings, strategies to "quiet" those who complained and recent positive reviews of these prosecutors — forced Mr. Gonzales to apologize to the remaining attorneys. These lawyers were fired for things like refusing to issue subpoenas against administration-targeted Democrats and not devoting more resources to obscenity cases, according to a Los Angeles Times report. For the Gonzales Department of Justice, politics is the fullest extent of the law.
For those of you wondering why the Department of Justice scandal is such a big deal, think of it this way: If your lawyer lied to your face, and you found concrete proof that he was scheming to keep you in the dark, wouldn't you fire him? After all, he is quite literally the nation's lawyer. Rather than represent the interests of America and give advice to the executive when asked, Mr. Gonzales has acted as nothing more than a partisan agent of this administration during his tenure.
The extent of Mr. Gonzales' incompetence is nothing short of astounding. The Department of Justice didn't even recognize the repercussions of creating a loyalty list and distributing it via e-mail. Even worse, they quickly appointed a GOP operative close to Karl Rove to one of the newly open U.S. attorney slots. So let's get this straight — a guy who so obviously botched a simple cover-up for something that isn't technically illegal is supposed to navigate the divide between constitutional rights and vigilance against terrorism?
To be sure, Mr. Gonzales "serves at the president's pleasure" in his own frequently quoted words. The same goes for every one of the 93 U.S. attorneys. But the "lie-first" approach to public policy is an embarrassment to the administration — which reportedly gave the final OK on the firings and cover-up strategy — and the office of the attorney general. For the sake of his office, and whatever threads of credibility the administration hasn't broken, Mr. Gonzales must resign immediately.
If high-level officials micromanage local politics to this extent, it is frightening to imagine the influence purely partisan concerns have on our nation's most pressing issues. Strangely, the administration that came to power by promising to restore integrity to the presidency has a frightening record of lying to the American people just to save face. Even more distressing, by refusing to hold anybody accountable for the countless breaches of public trust by his staff, this president has shown the American people he has more loyalty to his advisers than to the country. From Scooter Libby's conviction to censoring environmental scientists to doctoring intelligence to justify a war of choice to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this president and his staff have repeatedly proven incapable of performing the basic functions of government.
That is why the president's approval ratings are so low that suggesting we take him at his word is a laughable proposition. The unprincipled patronage-politics inspired policies of this administration truly are the greatest threat to our nation. They have forgotten why they got here and are getting what they deserve.
If Alberto Gonzales is lucky enough to see a next time, he should level with the American people like Rep. Obey did and accept the consequences. A simple, "We fired these U.S. attorneys because they wouldn't help us win elections," would suffice.
Bassey Etim ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.
