Tuesday, September 13, 2005

“I Take Full Responsibility…”

Today the president said “I take responsibility…” for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. You can read the story on MSNBC.com if you’d like.

Mr. President, I’d like to believe you when you say you take “full” responsibility. Now is the time to take some action to really show that you meant it. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, I feel like you’re blowing smoke up my ass again. If the buck stops with you, will you resign like Michael Brown did? Maybe a failure in a response to a disaster such as Katrina isn’t quite enough to call for a resignation of the president…

However, with repeated failures (“I’m sure I’ve made a mistake, I just can’t think of any right now…”) in Iraq, the “War on Terror” (or am I supposed to be using “The Global Struggle Against Extremism” now? I get so damned confused sometimes…), and the failures of Katrina just highlighting all the rest—I believe resignation is warranted. If not, then there’s always another way. In 2006, barring any really unforeseen miracles in Iraq, Republican control of the House of Representatives will fail. If hearings are not already under way, one of the first acts of the new Congress in 2007 will be to draw up Articles of Impeachment against the president, and maybe even the vice-president, too.

So what kind of responsibility will he take? What does “full” responsibility mean to him? In the past, “full responsibility” meant sending out the political hacks with Rove’s talking points to all four corners of the earth (and especially to FOX News), with lies, lies, and you guessed it—a few more lies, to attack anyone who “dare” question the integrity of this president. Michael Brown has already resigned…how much blame will be heaped upon his sorry ass? He deserves about as much blame as he ends up getting—but Bush still retains a hefty dose of responsibility (you know, like full) for himself. Of course, the first thing to be lashed out at me is “but what about the local officials?” What about them? Am I living in NOLA right now? Click on my profile. Where am I? I can’t hold the local officials responsible in any real way. Only the people effected by the disaster and the failed response can do that. I’m not saying they have no blame—everyone, and I do mean everyone—could have done a far better job. The only one who seems to have been doing their job 110% of the time, making the calls, sounding the warning bells, and “yelling” the loudest (in his quiet but powerful voice) was Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center.

But I can hold my elected “leaders” and their subordinates responsible. So I’ve chosen, along with many, many others, to hold George W. Bush accountable for his repeated failures (and not just with the hurricane), by joining the Impeach Bush Coalition. Our goal is to bring attention to the matter, and lobby our elected officials to begin hearings in congress immediately. We can, and will, make a difference. Michael Brown has resigned. That’s one down. So many more to go.

So let’s all see what “full responsibility” is to this president. I suppose that depends on what the meaning of “responsibility” is, doesn’t it?

One last thing, who should be the Democratic candidate for president in 2008? I’m thinking I’ve narrowed it down to Hillary Clinton or Russ Feingold. What say you?

I’ll get to the nomination hearings of John Roberts soon too. That cute little fascist. Hmmm…not feeling very nice today, am I? Calling ‘em as I see ‘em. The Truth is marching on.

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter. ~Denis Diderot
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