Thursday, January 15, 2009
If this were your essay, you might frame it as discerning George W. Bush’s legacy. Consumers of news and opinion have heard the term, oh, 10,000 times in the last two months.
Hate it. We shall frame it here as cleaning out his refrigerator.
Behold in those recesses briefly opened jars, labeled “unity” and “compassion.” Their contents have grown whiskers. Next to them: the moldy succotash of contradictions in “advancing liberty” abroad while treating civil liberties as nuisances at home.
Then in a heat-seared casserole: the hash made of one of our system’s fundamental tenets, checks and balances.
At this unappetizing sight we are forced to linger. Why? For one, because the president and vice president are telling us that what they did was good for the presidency.
John Dean has an educated opinion on that as the key whistle blower in an administration laid low by its own hubris and insularity.
Dean, Richard Nixon’s former counsel, penned Worse Than Watergate in 2004 to describe what our current president had done. Interestingly, going to war on trumped-up claims didn’t even merit No. 1 on his list of concerns.
Secrecy, the abusive invoking of “executive privilege,” and a callous disregard for checks and balances all fit a “surprisingly Nixonian” mold, he wrote.
Recently Dean wrote on Findlaw.com, that rather than strengthening the office, Bush and Dick Cheney weakened it, evidenced by court setbacks and the jaundiced view Americans have about their tenure in office.
Dean said he’s encouraged by Barack Obama’s choice of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to head the White House Office of Legal Counsel. Compared to the legal enablers Team Bush hired to ratify its deeds (see: Gonzales, Alberto), Johnsen, once acting OLC director under Bill Clinton, “has written widely — and wisely — about the uses and abuses of presidential power,” Dean said.
Johnsen has criticized the use of signing statements by Bush in which he would enact a law but point out parts the administration would ignore. One such example: a prohibition on permanent military bases in Iraq in a military spending bill.
All modern-day presidents have issued signing statements. With Bush, however, defiant paper has cascaded like rain.
Regarding Obama, wrote Dean, one indicator of whether a new day has dawned will be if Johnsen and the White House legal team will disclose its written opinions in a timely manner.
A revolutionary idea: a legal team hired by us, sharing its work with us. This doesn’t fit into the corporate, proprietary, us-against-everyone-else approach of the current administration.
Hence, unmentionables in the fridge, abominations like torture and domestic eavesdropping by a branch thinking of itself as the government and the rest of the government as an impediment.
It’s ironic things came to this, because Bush gained gravitas as Texas’ governor working closely with the Legislature.
Obama shows every indicator of knowing that strength comes not from the power of one but from the power of many.
Wait — did we find the Bush legacy?
John Young’s column appears Thursday and Sunday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
Comments
By sammy mclarty
Jan 16, 2009 1:42 AM | Link to this
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss BDDH: I remember those days quite well, thank you. That history was learned from thousands of hours of following current events during those 15 years. I didn't learn it from a book based on a one-sided view of the war from a band of disgruntled protestors with an ax to grind. Get a life and move on. You're still venting about events from 30-45 years ago. Spare me the insults, please, or abandon your anonymity so we can discuss it intelligently, man to man/woman/boy/girl.
By sammy mclarty
Jan 16, 2009 1:03 AM | Link to this
You got me, John. I don't know how to respond to that logic. I suppose when the best laid plans of any president go awry, however earnest or well intentioned, or not, we just boot him out of office, or failing that, verbally assassinate him daily for eight years.
It's all in the eye of the partisan. Illicit sex with a young intern in the Oval Office and perjured testimony before a federal judge apparently isn't bad enough for some folks to give the president the boot.
I would certainly be curious to see your column criticizing Clinton for his sexcapades. You have my e-mail address. Do you totally discount the possibility, perhaps even probablity, that some of those reasons for the Iraq War may be proven valid in the future?
By John Young
Jan 15, 2009 8:41 PM | Link to this
John Young responds
Sammy, one reason not to bring up Bill Clinton is that he is not the president. I do believe White House sexcapades made the papers, and my column, when he was. But if you must bring up Clinton, I'll pose a question to you. What if he sent Secretary of State Madeline Albright to the United Nations, she laid out nine reasons to invade a country, say, Iraq, and all nine reasons turned out to be bunkum? Would you have thought him worthy of retaining his office?
By BDDH
Jan 15, 2009 8:19 PM | Link to this
Mr. McLarty, you obviously do not know your history. I'm sorry about that. We need people to open their eyes and see things as they are instead of how they like to imagine they were/are. I do not mind when people disagree with me, but I am disturbed at just outright ignorance when it comes to history.
By Sammy McLarty
Jan 15, 2009 3:45 PM | Link to this
"Itıs ironic things came to this, because Bush gained gravitas as Texası governor working closely with the Legislature."
John, how DOES one account for this oddity? Could one plausible explanation be the arrogant, inflexible, pugilistic, uncompromising, party-before-country folks he had to work with in the U.S. Lege? One legacy Bush won't have to worry about is leaving semen stains on the Oval Office carpet or desk or the institution of the presidency. Why not include that fond remembrance in one of your columns? It seems we Americans will have to worry about THAT legacy as Obama has recruited most of that administrations' henchmen/-women and bad behavior enablers. And how DOES one account for the fact that Bush wasn't impeached for alleged "high crimes and misdemeanors" despite having the rabble-rousing opposition in control of the House for his last two years in office? Could it be that cooler heads than yours prevailed upon the rabid partisans with the argument that a provable case for impeachment couldn't be made?
You and BDDH need to get a grip on reality. It's apparently not possible for you to heap enough scorn and derision on current & former GOP presidents, no matter how far removed from office, while giving a pass to the Democrat dimwits who malfeased their way through that office.
Yeah, BDDH, I'm going to run right out and read that book and see that movie. Can hardly wait! I'm sure they compare favorably to Michael Moore's and Al Gore's distorted, juvenile attempts at writing and moviemaking. So author Saunders became so impressed with John Kerry and his Summer Soldier hippies that she identified with them and "joined the movement." That says a lot about her. Some silly women also fall in love with inmates on death row. Go figure!
By BDDH
Jan 15, 2009 8:33 AM | Link to this
Another good op ed, Mr. Young. I hope many people see the Frost/Nixon movie, and for those too young to remember what happened during the Vietnam War and Watergate, I hope they will read COMBAT by TRIAL: An Odyssey with 20th Century Winter Soldiers by Nancy Miller Saunders (Author). Paperback. ISBN: 9780595505913.
Combat by Trial is a 500+ page memoir of a young filmmaker who set out to document the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) protests (Winter Soldier Investigation was one) and because she was so impressed by their sincerity and willingness to sacrifice to stop a disastrous war that she joined the movement. It is a personal and emotional read and would certainly make viewing Frost/Nixon more understandable, especially from the point of view of returning soldiers and the young people who were draft age.
Actually, Combat by Trial in addition to viewing Frost/Nixon would be excellent teaching tools for history or political science classes. Comparing current events to that historical event would be particularly educational.
(Note: Ms. Saunders currently lives near Fayetteville, AR, and her notes, film, and other artifacts from the time period are archived at the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.)
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