Justice, In This Instance

This morning, the President-Elect told George Stephanopolos that he was "leaving the door open" on the possibility of investigating the Bush administration for "potential crimes." Here's the full story.

The implications stemming from such an investigation deserve careful, public consideration.

On the one hand, we have the obvious list of potentially criminal things the Bush administration did, repeated so frequently even in this blog that I will not subject you to a printed retelling of it, allowing you to stop the list in your head when it has reached sufficient size to make the point.

On the other hand, in jobs where almost any mistake you make probably violates a law, this sort of after-the-fact prosecution is precisely why Dick Cheney is trying to withhold his records. That and he's a sneaky git, but this is a credible reason. The term "corrupt politician" can sometimes seem like a redundancy, and in general individuals who break the law while holding office should be held accountable for their actions. But the last eight years have seen a systematic, methodical effort to undermine the structure of the US government carried on not just at the highest levels, but across large areas of entire departments. Prosecuting the handful of individuals who might eventually be held to account for this seems inadequate to the scale of what has occurred.

In a nation ruled by laws, no person or office should be allowed to rise above them, but shouldn't our effort be focused on mapping out the degree to which Bush et al have violated the public trust, and then trying to ensure that their legion transgressions can't be repeated? I for one would take no solace in seeing an Alberto Gonzalez behind bars. I would be greatly heartened to learn that an oversight mechanism that would actually do its job had been created to keep someone else in his position from filling the justice department with lawyers who had passed an ideological litmus test. The President Elect is probably correct when he says, "We must avoid any temptation simply to move on." But we must equally avoid any temptation simply to punish for the sake of vengeance. I believe that justice, in this instance, is better served by the pursuit of improved government in the future than by an exact accounting for past crimes.

The Shoe Heard 'Round The World

I almost couldn't believe my eyes when the story of an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at our president hit the wires yesterday.

Perhaps inevitably, TPM reports that Muntadhar al-Zeidi is now so popular in Iraq that crowds are demonstrating for his release from custody, as presumably they too would like to throw things at George Bush. While I struggle to think of a context in which throwing your shoe at someone isn't rude, it is a mark of particular disrespect in Arab societies. Presumably, also, this raises questions about Presidential security, and musing on the potential convergence between the experience of boarding an airplane and interviewing the President is diverting.

There is a certain irony to the fact that, in his final weeks in office, President Bush has finally managed to find a way to unite much of the Middle East around a common cause.

*UPDATE* 17 December 2008
The NYT Opinion Page has stolen my headline! Durr!

It's Official

The New York Times has obtained a draft copy of a portion of the official history of the Iraq War. As it is 508 pages long, you may prefer to read their highlights here.

I will admit, I have only skimmed the original document thus far, although those immobilized by back injuries may enjoy a more thorough exploration :). Compiled from over 500 interviews and 600 other documents and reports, the history is a sweeping indictment of government planning from the moment the invasion ended and the reconstruction began. It further concludes that the White House was essentially fabricating numbers such as the size of the Iraqi force which had been trained. If you want to read more about the train wreck everyone outside the official mind has largely been aware of for the last few years, you have the links above.

This document should also serve as another nail in the coffin for the Bush legacy. As much as historians enjoy slaughtering sacred cows in the name of revisionism, it speaks volumes (pardon the pun)that Bush-appointed writers can find nothing but fiasco. As I've suggested previously, it's quite possible that President Bush's only hope for historical spin rides on the shoulders of his successor.

Legacy

Jonathan Rauch writes in the National Journal Magazine about perverse potential outcomes of the voting decisions we all get to make in the near future (if we have not made them already).

His most interesting point, among several, is the idea that an Obama victory would likely save Bush's legacy, just as Eisenhower saved Truman, by emphasizing his good policies and smothering the bad ones.

I'm captivated by that one. On the surface, it seems to have real merit. I can't wait to toss that one out for wider consideration tomorrow morning around the coffeepot.

More Signing Statements

President Bush – remember him? – is back at it again with those wacky signing statements. It has been a constant source of amazement to me that Bush has been able to get away with these things for going on eight years now. Is there any sort of legal mechanism for addressing this short of impeaching the president? It’s frankly unbelievable that someone can simply say about laws that the Congress has passed, “I don’t agree with this, and I don’t intend to follow it.”

Signing statements, Guantanamo Bay, torture, the politization of the Justice Department, NASA, FEMA, the FCC and the EPA and practically every other part of the Executive Branch, Cheney’s wholly extralegal role in this administration – it just goes on and on. When you step back and look at the sheer enormity of Bush’s actions in his two terms of office, you have to take your hat off to the man. He’s been busy.

Four more months.

Respite, of a sort

John McCain has finally started to push his campaign rallies back from the brink of becoming unruly mobs, and is getting booed for his trouble. The move on his part suggests that he still has some filters for appropriate behavior in place, which is a good call on his part. It should keep him from becoming completely irrelevant over the next three weeks.

Following one of the worst financial weeks in modern history, the markets are mercifully silent for the weekend. Following the surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) quiet announcement from the White House that the US would be adopting the British-style bailout plan of direct investment in banks, things may well be much quieter on Monday. Stories are beginning to appear suggesting that it might now be time for the rally as investors sweep in to buy up undervalued assets. Maybe. Even if they do, the real test remains the inter-business lending on the commercial paper markets. But then, you know that already if you've been keeping up with the This American Life broadcasts. So, how does it feel to live in a "partially socialized" nation?

Even the Axis of Evil seems to be passing from the political stage, with charter-member North Korea being removed from the state sponsors of terrorism list. Poor Dubya, face to face with the lesson of Ozymandius. It has to be hard for him to take- George never struck me as much of a philosopher.

After the run and gun of last week, today feels oddly like a respite. Think I'll go do something outside.

not dark yet, but it's getting there

Just when you think this whole economic collapse thing can't get any more strange. Politically, Still President Bush might as well make the remainder of his public appearances wearing a bill and oversize novelty webbed feet. The lame part will take care of itself. He's lost control of the party that voted him nearly unrestricted war powers. Surely it couldn't get much worse?

Then you look at the economic impact. Both the Dow and NASDAQ closed today lower than they were when Bush took office, meaning that 8 years of value have been wiped from the markets in the last few weeks. There is little to add to this stunning verdict other than context for this statement:

"It's a striking phenomenon," said Robert Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce during the Clinton White House years. "The reckless negligence and mismanagement of the country's financial markets by the White House, the Treasury and the Fed over the last several years has now produced a crisis that has wiped out all of the increase in the market value of America's companies from five years of record corporate profits, strong productivity gains, and reasonable growth. Bush has now run the table on presidential failure."

Read that context here.