Posted by
Patrick Henry on Saturday, August 21, 2010 9:56:00 PM
A statement attributed to White House Chief of Staff but quite probably pre-
dating him is, "never let a crisis go to waste." The theory is that when cisis arises
and foks are casting about for solutions, sometimes you can ram through things
you've always wanted to do but never could. And that's even if there's no proven
connection between the crisis and your hobby horse.
Three such crises beset the world today, and into the fray with questionably
relevant solutions, three prominent Americans have jumped feet first. Crisis one
is the horrendous flooding in Pakistan which has already claimed thousands of
lives and threatens to enmesh that nation in further pestilence and heartache.
But fear not! Hillary Clinton has stepped forward to explain the deluge. Why,
it's man-made climate change, of course. Never mind that gigantic floods have
plagued man since at least the days of Noah and his renowned ark. But I'm
sure that one must have been caused by the carbon footprint from excessive
camel flatulence. Methinks her tactic is transparent. If you want to harp on
the global warming issue to prod congress into cap-and-tax energy legislation,
why not ride a favorite hobby horse during the crisis? Weather experts smirked
on at least two major networks in distancing themselves from Clinton's theory.
But I don't know why. It's only half as preposterous as the Iranian cleric's
hypothesis that earthquakes are the result of revealing female clothing.
Then there's the eternal infernal debate over the groud zero mosque. After
Obama, Harry Reid and Howard Dean finished offering their opinions, which
were either irrelevant or conflicted, none other than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
has weighed in with a great idea. Let's have an investigation into who is funding the
people who object to the mosque being built. What a stroke of genius. Let's
not waste congressional time doing mundane things like making and passing a
budget. Let's pry into the bank accounts of the 9/11 victims' surviving family
members. And while we're at it, lets check to be sure their right to speak, as well
as those of other Americans who agree with them really ARE covered by the
First Amendment free speech guarantee. Maybe it would be good for the wicked
witch from California to read the SCOTUS decision in Quinn vs. the United States
in which Earl Warren wrote for the majority that the investigative powers of
congress "shall not be used unrelated to valid legislative priorities," and that such
"must be subject to the specific individual guarantees in the bill of rights." Nice
try, Nance. We all know you've just been itching to investigate those danged right-
wingers. But this one might even get a laugh out of Elena Kagan.
Crisis number three is really a Trojan horse, in that it's not just about what it
seems to be about. It has finally dawned on a panicky president and his equally
panicky party that elections are just a couple of months off and the entire economy
is in the toilet with one hand raised going down for the third time. So after a brief
lull, we're now hearing the name of George W. Bush dredged up yet again, so that
Democrats and Obama can try to hang the flailing thing around his neck. Never
mind that they've had legislative control for years, including a super majority for
the last 18 months, or that Obama has had a year-and-a-half in the White House.
Never mind that he has outspent Bush, driven the deficit to an all-time high and
has nearly nothing to show for his pork laden stimulus monstrosity. It must be
Bush's fault, it just has to be. A weary and cynical public, however, isn't buying
it, according to the polls. They're starting to blame Obama and the Democrats.
How long will the Bush-bashing continue? For a hundred years, if it works. But
all indicators are that it's going over with voters like a moldy taco shell. It's not
really about Bush, or even about the economy, regarding which the spendthrift
Democrats don't give a rat's behind. It's about them holding onto power in the
November elections. It's them cynically trying to get even more mileage out of
a heart-wrenching national crisis.
But Rahm must be chuckling as he sits, feet propped up on his desk in his
plush White House office. He's not on food stamps, marching in protest or reaching
for a life jacket. But he must be enjoying it as his disciples ply "the doctrine."