First as tragedy, then as farce
I know I'm not the only one out there who fondly
remembers the days of Watergate. One of the most wonderful things about it was
the fact that, at least to me, it so much resembled a Greek tragedy. The
protagonist, one Tricky Dicky, struggled against his fate, but the outcome was
never really in doubt. As I was always certain of his guilt, I became convinced
he would be thrown out of office the day I heard about the Oval Office tapes.
From that moment on, it was just a matter of sitting back and watching the
play.
One of the minor scenes, starring an otherwise very minor player, was the 18 minute gap controversy, in which we found (although I'm not sure it was ever admitted) that the technologically challenged Dick had attempted to erase 18 minutes of the most damaging conversations. His secretary, Rose Marie Woods, apparently volunteered to take the fall. Here we see her demonstrating how she probably inadvertently erased those 18 minutes in an 18 minute long moment of forgetfulness. Apparently she was so comfortable in this position that she fell asleep.
Fast forward to the present, and allow for inflation. We now have an 18 day gap in the emails recently disclosed by the White House. Apparently, just prior to the mass firings, a strange silence descended on the principal actors in this present day farce. Okay, some bleary eyed searchers have discovered two emails of no significance in the relevant time period (November 15 to December 4, 2006) but those are indistinguishable in principle from the tell tale "clicks" in Nixon's 18 minute gap. Unfortunately, with farce, unlike tragedy, the denouement is not preordained. I wish I could say that BushCheney will be deposed at the end of this farce, but it's unlikely to happen. There are two reasons for this. First, they can run out the clock. Second, the judiciary is controlled by Bush loyalists who will no doubt, in the end, come up with a one time only expansive but fact bound definition of executive privilege that will save Bush's bacon while preserving the ability of the next Republican majority to harass the next Democratic president.
Speaking of executive privilege, I am always amused that every president who invokes this anti-democratic and extra-constitutional dodge insists that he is doing it for the sake of future presidents. Yet, the principle is and always has been one more observed in the breach. Many of Clinton's aides testified under oath, yet we have yet to hear from a single Bush appointee who has been chilled at all in his/her conversations with the Leader. Shouldn't some intrepid reporter (if one exists, other than Helen Thomas) in the White House press corps, ask Tony Snow (who appears to have changed his own mind on the subject) which aides have felt constrained by the weight of actual precedent. Judging by their casual criminality, it seems unlikely that the threat of subpoenas has constrained them. All of which might lead one to believe that the threat of subpoenas is the only hope we have to keep the executive under some sort of salutary constraint.
One of the minor scenes, starring an otherwise very minor player, was the 18 minute gap controversy, in which we found (although I'm not sure it was ever admitted) that the technologically challenged Dick had attempted to erase 18 minutes of the most damaging conversations. His secretary, Rose Marie Woods, apparently volunteered to take the fall. Here we see her demonstrating how she probably inadvertently erased those 18 minutes in an 18 minute long moment of forgetfulness. Apparently she was so comfortable in this position that she fell asleep.
Fast forward to the present, and allow for inflation. We now have an 18 day gap in the emails recently disclosed by the White House. Apparently, just prior to the mass firings, a strange silence descended on the principal actors in this present day farce. Okay, some bleary eyed searchers have discovered two emails of no significance in the relevant time period (November 15 to December 4, 2006) but those are indistinguishable in principle from the tell tale "clicks" in Nixon's 18 minute gap. Unfortunately, with farce, unlike tragedy, the denouement is not preordained. I wish I could say that BushCheney will be deposed at the end of this farce, but it's unlikely to happen. There are two reasons for this. First, they can run out the clock. Second, the judiciary is controlled by Bush loyalists who will no doubt, in the end, come up with a one time only expansive but fact bound definition of executive privilege that will save Bush's bacon while preserving the ability of the next Republican majority to harass the next Democratic president.
Speaking of executive privilege, I am always amused that every president who invokes this anti-democratic and extra-constitutional dodge insists that he is doing it for the sake of future presidents. Yet, the principle is and always has been one more observed in the breach. Many of Clinton's aides testified under oath, yet we have yet to hear from a single Bush appointee who has been chilled at all in his/her conversations with the Leader. Shouldn't some intrepid reporter (if one exists, other than Helen Thomas) in the White House press corps, ask Tony Snow (who appears to have changed his own mind on the subject) which aides have felt constrained by the weight of actual precedent. Judging by their casual criminality, it seems unlikely that the threat of subpoenas has constrained them. All of which might lead one to believe that the threat of subpoenas is the only hope we have to keep the executive under some sort of salutary constraint.
Posted: Wednesday - March 21, 2007 at 07:36 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:20 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:20 PM