Not Just Another Crisis
The Bush administration's seizure of the powers of a 'unitary executive' may be the most important crisis facing the country today. And yet it seems to me that many people who are most staunchly opposed to the Bush administration and everything it stands for may, paradoxically, be relatively unaware of the seriousness of this threat.
(I.) This is partly because the administration's statements outlining its perceived unitary powers do not, in and of themselves, engender prominent and lasting news coverage. Certain actions taken by the administration that are guided by the doctrine, most notably the illegal NSA warrentless wiretapping program, do make headlines, but they tend to be swallowed up in the daily stream of other scandals not directly related to or illustrative of this one -- most notably the administration's bungled and incompetent prosecution of the war in Iraq, but also the many other examples of its amorality and inability to govern, such as the response to Katrina, the illegal outing of Valerie Plame, its top-heavy and garbled Medicare plan, and on and on.
I would argue that the unitary executive scandal, in addition to its seriousness, has the advantage of many of the others in being easier to argue clearly, and less divisive than many of the others. This is not in any way to downplay the importance of the other less closely related subjects. But in a time of crisis, with people on both sides of the issues ceaselessly screaming and sneering at each other, and the air filled with aggressively argumentative statements that fail to carefully argue the underlying points, this crisis is one on which there is (or would be, if it were more widely known and discussed) the greatest degree of unifying and bipartisan outrage towards the President.
Anyone doubting this has only to witness the startling vision of a bipartisan joint statement on the recent FBI raid on the Congressional office of a Democrat under investigation for bribery, issue by the slavishly loyal and staunchly Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the loudly and virulently anti-Bush Democrat Nancy Pelosi. (There was a riveting and carefully debated discussion of the FBI search on yesterday's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; a transcript and/or video should soon be available here or elsewhere.)
(II.) Another reason for Bush opponents to unconsciously downplay this threat may be the belief that the conduct of this administration is comparable to that of a number of past administrations, and that this is just another example of a conservative, right-wing president ardently supported on right-wing radio talk shows and television networks, coddled by the corporate-controlled mainstream media, elected and re-elected by a fundamentally conservative electorate, etc.
This somewhat cynical view of the 'embattled left wing' certainly contains large kernels of truth, but it is at least partly undermined by the fact that many staunch conservatives and Republicans are outraged by this doctrine, seeing it as one that does not adhere to traditionally conservative principles, and also one that in the most un-American way flies directly in the face of our system of government, fought for and then carefully established in the Constitution by the founding fathers. Glenn Greenwald, for one, was a self-described apolitical conservative as recently as 2002, when he became concerned about the illegal imprisonment of Jose Padilla -- and although I don't know for sure, I'd assume that he's still a conservative (although obviously a great deal less apolitical than before).
(I.) This is partly because the administration's statements outlining its perceived unitary powers do not, in and of themselves, engender prominent and lasting news coverage. Certain actions taken by the administration that are guided by the doctrine, most notably the illegal NSA warrentless wiretapping program, do make headlines, but they tend to be swallowed up in the daily stream of other scandals not directly related to or illustrative of this one -- most notably the administration's bungled and incompetent prosecution of the war in Iraq, but also the many other examples of its amorality and inability to govern, such as the response to Katrina, the illegal outing of Valerie Plame, its top-heavy and garbled Medicare plan, and on and on.
I would argue that the unitary executive scandal, in addition to its seriousness, has the advantage of many of the others in being easier to argue clearly, and less divisive than many of the others. This is not in any way to downplay the importance of the other less closely related subjects. But in a time of crisis, with people on both sides of the issues ceaselessly screaming and sneering at each other, and the air filled with aggressively argumentative statements that fail to carefully argue the underlying points, this crisis is one on which there is (or would be, if it were more widely known and discussed) the greatest degree of unifying and bipartisan outrage towards the President.
Anyone doubting this has only to witness the startling vision of a bipartisan joint statement on the recent FBI raid on the Congressional office of a Democrat under investigation for bribery, issue by the slavishly loyal and staunchly Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the loudly and virulently anti-Bush Democrat Nancy Pelosi. (There was a riveting and carefully debated discussion of the FBI search on yesterday's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; a transcript and/or video should soon be available here or elsewhere.)
(II.) Another reason for Bush opponents to unconsciously downplay this threat may be the belief that the conduct of this administration is comparable to that of a number of past administrations, and that this is just another example of a conservative, right-wing president ardently supported on right-wing radio talk shows and television networks, coddled by the corporate-controlled mainstream media, elected and re-elected by a fundamentally conservative electorate, etc.
This somewhat cynical view of the 'embattled left wing' certainly contains large kernels of truth, but it is at least partly undermined by the fact that many staunch conservatives and Republicans are outraged by this doctrine, seeing it as one that does not adhere to traditionally conservative principles, and also one that in the most un-American way flies directly in the face of our system of government, fought for and then carefully established in the Constitution by the founding fathers. Glenn Greenwald, for one, was a self-described apolitical conservative as recently as 2002, when he became concerned about the illegal imprisonment of Jose Padilla -- and although I don't know for sure, I'd assume that he's still a conservative (although obviously a great deal less apolitical than before).
posted by 1729 at 1:35 PM
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