The Unseen and the Unseemly

When you run down the list of recent near-scandals it's almost hard to believe that anyone believes the PR issuing forth from the White House any longer. The problem isn't that the White House makes an effort to spin stories to their advantage - every administration in history has done that. The real problem is that this administration has elevated secrecy to a position of dominance which, I dare say, would make a loyal Kremlin aparatchik blush.

One is almost moved to boisterous laughter at the outrage expressed by the President's supporters in reaction the rancorous questioning of Scott McClellan after the Vice President's unfortunate hunting mishap. But what do they expect? When you insist on secrecy, you invite scrutiny and suspicion.

A quick rundown of past and recent events reads like a political police blotter: the shameful lack of awareness of the situation in New Orleans shortly after the landfall of hurricane Katrina, the opacity of the process surrounding the drafting of the country's energy "policy," the details surrounding the exposure of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the inexplicable time lapse involved in the releasing of the news that the Vice President had shot a hunting companion and friend (not to mention the fungibility of the account), the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, the news that the NSA is spying on U.S. citizens, and that the President personally signed-off on this illegal action, and, most recently and perhaps most distrubing, the bizarre details surround the UAE "ports" deal.

President Bush insisted that he would veto any bill which quashed the sale to Dubai Ports World - before he had any familiarity with the details of the transaction. This statement elicited a rare public rebuke for GOP stalwart Trent Lott: "OK, Big Boy, I'll Just Vote To Override Your Veto."

Having played poker a few times I understand that secrecy almost always demonstrates an interest in covering detail. Thus we are left to ask "just what are they hiding?' The current administration's posture towards the rest of America (including the judiciary and legislative branches) can only be typified as paternalistic. But this isn't "Father Knows Best," and the First Lady isn't Jane Wyatt.

Now we find out the President and his Homeland Security chief were warned explicitely about the impending risk of levee failure before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Micheal Brown, a man who can generously be called the Don Knotts of the Federal disaster recovery effort, even warned President Bush and DHS head Michael Chertoff of a "catastrophe within a catastrophe" at the Superdome. Just days later the President was quoted as saying, in essence "no one knew the levees would fail." Please forgive us if we suspect that the President and his cohort enjoy a relationship with the truth something like that of Michael Jackson and his last wife.

Now that we see this for the bald-faced lie that it is, we're forced to wonder just what it is that those who support the President are thinking. How can an administration which has been busted repeatedly in outright lies claim any credibility at all? Even the most credulous amongst us are forced to wonder.

"Fool me once..."

The real shame for all of this lies at the feet of an impotent congressional body who has repeatedly allowed administration officials to testify to Congress without swearing an oath to tell the truth. Why in the world would the President of the United States, sworn to uphold the US constitution, refuse to swear under oath to tell the truth before a closed session of Congress?

The answer now seems painfully clear - this is not a case of mere oversight. No, it's much more horrifying than that. Whether by intention or effect, the White House has continually demonstrated contempt for the rule of law in this country and elsewhere, asserting that the actions of the Chief Executive, any actions, are legal because he says so. What else can you call this but Imperialism?

It seems hard to imagine the GOP carrying the Neo-Con water much longer. Congressional Republicans are increasingly pushing back against the White House, and the looming mid-term elections have got them about as settled as a "Christian Scientist with an appendicitis."

In the final analysis the GOP has got to be wondering what price they'll be forced to pay for this Faustian deal. If the President ends up getting impeached, it will be the result of actions taken by Congressional Republicans. The first law of politics is self-preservation.