Gut Check Time: Tom Delay, Bill Frist, & Karl Rove -- Welcome to Washington
Mike Healy
October 10, 2005
It was announced recently that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was indicted on charges of conspiracy in relation to some questionable dealings concerning campaign funds. Also in the news recently is the possibility that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is guilty of duplicitously dumping anywhere from $2-$6 million in stock in what looks to be an egregious instance of insider trading. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of the president’s right hand man, the untelegenic Karl Rove, coming under fire for allegedly leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative to a newspaper columnist. This is just to give you a “highlight reel” of the many misfortunes our governmental leadership seem to find inescapable these days.
Meanwhile, the country these fellows are supposed to be leading isn’t exactly humming along on autopilot while things get sorted out. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and ‘Brownie’ (formerly known as FEMA honcho Michael Brown) combined to devastate large parts of the South, essentially laying waste to the city of New Orleans. The war in Iraq is spiraling out of control, and the public is beginning to take notice. Gas is a step away from being hoarded in wine cellars, and we’ve got Supreme Court members dropping like flies.
When asked how the White House felt about Republican government leaders being so encumbered with distractions while such a maelstrom of problems faced the nation, spokesman Scott McClellan’s reply was simple: “Welcome to Washington, D.C.”
Apparently, Mr. McClellan feels that politicians dealing with personal scandals as opposed to national crises is just part of the nature of business in our nation’s capital. Even more troubling is I really have yet to see anyone directly confront our leadership with the fact that, maybe if they hadn’t been so busy conspiring (DeLay), inside trading (Frist), leaking (Rove), and dying (OK, maybe the Supreme Court is off the hook), things wouldn’t be such a mess right now.
Since it is the fall, I suppose I’ll go ahead and offer an analogy to the game of college football: Team America is pretty much the most talented squad around; they’ve got the best players, the best facilities, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be cruising to a championship every year. But problems are arising-- the team has just hit the hardest part of its schedule, and the coaching staff is having all sorts of issues. The offensive coordinator has a drinking problem. The defensive coordinator just got caught running around on his wife. And the special teams coach, well, the special teams coach is under suspicion of having leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to a newspaper columnist.
So, needless to say, they’re all too busy with these items to really put their heart and soul into concocting a game plan (which is to say nothing about the value of their coaching philosophy, which is a whole separate argument entirely). Making matters worse, the head coach prides himself as a CEO type who favors a managerial style of delegation. As a result, he really doesn’t have the expertise to pick up the slack. This doesn’t mean that any of the teams on the schedule are going to let up at all, though, so unless the alumni and fan base really start making some noise about changes being made, Team America could be in for a hurting.
These guys aren’t just fiddling while Rome burns, they’re attending banquets while Baghdad explodes, and they’re on the golf course while New Orleans drowns. The public is worried about where its next meal is coming from, and all the ‘public servants’ are worried about is where their donors are taking them to dine. I think it’s clear that our team is being led in a bad direction, but it’s up to us to demand a change before the season is lost.
Meanwhile, the country these fellows are supposed to be leading isn’t exactly humming along on autopilot while things get sorted out. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and ‘Brownie’ (formerly known as FEMA honcho Michael Brown) combined to devastate large parts of the South, essentially laying waste to the city of New Orleans. The war in Iraq is spiraling out of control, and the public is beginning to take notice. Gas is a step away from being hoarded in wine cellars, and we’ve got Supreme Court members dropping like flies.
When asked how the White House felt about Republican government leaders being so encumbered with distractions while such a maelstrom of problems faced the nation, spokesman Scott McClellan’s reply was simple: “Welcome to Washington, D.C.”
Apparently, Mr. McClellan feels that politicians dealing with personal scandals as opposed to national crises is just part of the nature of business in our nation’s capital. Even more troubling is I really have yet to see anyone directly confront our leadership with the fact that, maybe if they hadn’t been so busy conspiring (DeLay), inside trading (Frist), leaking (Rove), and dying (OK, maybe the Supreme Court is off the hook), things wouldn’t be such a mess right now.
Since it is the fall, I suppose I’ll go ahead and offer an analogy to the game of college football: Team America is pretty much the most talented squad around; they’ve got the best players, the best facilities, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be cruising to a championship every year. But problems are arising-- the team has just hit the hardest part of its schedule, and the coaching staff is having all sorts of issues. The offensive coordinator has a drinking problem. The defensive coordinator just got caught running around on his wife. And the special teams coach, well, the special teams coach is under suspicion of having leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to a newspaper columnist.
So, needless to say, they’re all too busy with these items to really put their heart and soul into concocting a game plan (which is to say nothing about the value of their coaching philosophy, which is a whole separate argument entirely). Making matters worse, the head coach prides himself as a CEO type who favors a managerial style of delegation. As a result, he really doesn’t have the expertise to pick up the slack. This doesn’t mean that any of the teams on the schedule are going to let up at all, though, so unless the alumni and fan base really start making some noise about changes being made, Team America could be in for a hurting.
These guys aren’t just fiddling while Rome burns, they’re attending banquets while Baghdad explodes, and they’re on the golf course while New Orleans drowns. The public is worried about where its next meal is coming from, and all the ‘public servants’ are worried about is where their donors are taking them to dine. I think it’s clear that our team is being led in a bad direction, but it’s up to us to demand a change before the season is lost.
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