Crazy... for feeling this way?
Written by Captain Spork on 1:37 PMSo after having a few days to digest the latest political slogging I've come to one conclusion: This nation is either on the brink of being totally fucked or possibly on the verge of becoming slightly less fucked than at present. I'm rooting for the latter.
Where to begin... Ah yes, Bill Clinton. Slick Willy looks better and better with each passing year. He's mad as hell and he's not gonna take it anymore!!! He's not only laying out the blueprint for any democrat who wants to be viable anywhere but he's also laying out a blueprint for the current president (not that I think he deserves to succeed in any facet of life, but he's currently the guy with all the power buttons). During his bitch-slapping of Chris Wallace the other day he said one phrase which was truthfully deafening, "So I tried and I failed." The response came from this longer exchange:
WALLACE: Do you think you did enough, sir?
CLINTON: No, because I didn't get him.
WALLACE: Right.
CLINTON: But at least I tried. That's the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try. They did not try. I tried.
So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke, who got demoted.
Clearly, Clinton has little to lose politically these days so he has the balls to come out "guns a' blazin" on any matter he wants to... but he hasn't. Largely he's kept quiet when it comes to Bush and his handling of Al Qaeda, until the latest round of revisionist history hit the airwaves a month ago. When this Wallace-slapping is taken in context with his other remarks during his Global Initiative event the sentiment becomes clear towards President Bush: It's always easier to ask for forgiveness that it is permission.
Clinton fully admits that he screwed up, he didn't get Bin Laden, but neither did the current administration which happens to be the only administration to actually hold office when Bin Laden ordered the attacks of September 11, 2001. The issue of "who was watching guard" is not productive at the current juncture though. What needs to be done is indeed relevant and vital. At this point, I don't even care much about Bush, Dick and Rummy getting any immediate retribution for their follies and lack of foresight. I just want some honesty and then the forgiveness can happen.
That one phrase, "So I tried and I failed," were it to come from President Bush would do wonders for our country. It's a matter of humility at some point, realizing that we are a nation of flawed but ultimately good people. This whole "torture" debate is less about how we're going to get answers from the terrorists and more about how we get answers from ourselves about what we stand for. If there were any signs of humility or grace from anyone in the White House, the American people might be willing to take seriously a "reworking " of the Geneva conventions. Though it would still require a complete national discussion, not just another rubber stamp resolution.
Trust in a government only goes so far. When videos, photos and endless documentation fly in the face of "patriotic" rhetoric forgiveness is hard to muster. But it is not impossible.
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