Cocooned in a bubble of transitional activity, one that by necessity includes a more formal and distant relationship with the mainstream media and blog-o-sphere. The new President is in danger of making a public relations mistake of the type that cost Gerald Ford a second term.
We, the majority of rank and file according to President elect Obama's own website stats, Suspect George Bush and most senior members of his administration, may have committed serious crimes against the constitution these last eight years, offenses that make water boarding seem trivial by comparison.
Friend put my name first on the hypothetical list of people, who would use a cattle prod to encourage a terrorist to reveal the location of a Bomb about to explode in a major American city. I offer my services because I know it's absurd to think terrorism ever plays out that way, I know this because career intelligence officers, military men and shrinks, the ones Bush dismissed early in the war on terror, told him it never happens that way.
But what made his behavior criminal happened after clearing the room of people he should have listened to, It left only sycophants and those eager to agree with whatever George Bush or Dick Cheney or Don Rumsfeld might think was legal and right action.
Torture in the abstract consideration of mediocre intellects, may seem a productive and lawful act to obtain information that prevents future attack on civilian populations. The problem is enough legal precedent to fill a warehouse and make a university shelf heavy with reports and studies completed over decades provided empirical proof it just wasn't so both in law and psychology, no matter what a Presidents gut or attorney general tells him.
History teaches us, many a Nation has fallen under the spell of men who craft horrible deceptions and engage in unspeakable acts, because of the want to beguile the people, usually they are the type who, if they have reason to fear prosecution awaits once they surrender power, quickly enough find justification for remaining in office. So I accept for now the hesitation of those in the blog-o-sphere hinting of firsthand knowledge detailing even greater injustice and atrocity they decline to speak of in depth prior to late in the afternoon of January 20th 2009.
MSNBC hardball host Chris Matthews speculates Mr. Obama is picking a center right cabinet so he can govern center left, Some bloggers pointing to recent comments by house leaders worry the sins of George Bush will never see the light of day. President Ford allowed Richard Nixon to glory in his denial at the cost of a second term, George Bush is already beginning what will be his life remaining task of attempting to influence historians his lies were truth and the blood staining his hands evidence of a righteous sacrifice offered upon the alter of liberty.
We can hope if the George Bush legacy project currently being run out of the white house enjoys credibility and a measure of success, at least some page of history will draw attention to the memory of patriots like Patrick Tillman, who's body was stripped naked on the field of battle so they could burn his uniform in an attempt to weave his death into the tapestry of the grand illusion and perfidy that defines George Bush's war and the true character of his administration.
For the moment, I speculate President Obama must wake each morning cognizant of the reality he will soon lead a country divided between those of us who see through the beguilement and deception and those who voted republican, he inherits problems and crises that practically speaking require a majority of folks living in Red states and represented by republicans to participate if the biggest of the problems have any hope of resolution.
Perhaps the solution to retaining the support of those he will need to see a second term without offending those on the right to the point of political alienation is a middle ground. A non criminal truth and justice congressional level commission would offer some satisfaction without creating legal chaos or imperiling the liberty of the participants.
I have little doubt low level weasels pondering the post Bush years and legion of lawyers preparing civil suites and freedom of information requests would jump at the opportunity to shield themselves and their bank accounts with immunity. Besides Learning what contributed to the systemic failure of check and balance between the branches of government would serve a more constructive purpose than attempting to investigate and prosecute members of the Bush administration on an individual basis.
George Bush hopes to avoid inclusion amongst politicians we teach or popular culture defines as corrupt and disreputable individuals who's action violated the public trust and harmed the nation, Being spoken of in the company of men like Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara , Joseph McCarthy, and Roy Cohen, was not exactly the legacy Mr. Bush intended when he took office, but it's the least he can expect and if the rumors and whispers are true and full disclosure ever see's the light of day, he may just end up defending his Presidential legacy and policies in a court of law.
