Saturday, September 3. 2005
Time For A Congressional Take-Over.
More often than not I find myself joining the people who call for us to put aside recrimination and political blame-mongering in a crisis. Not this time. We delayed the fault-finding on 9/11, we delayed the fault-finding on Iraq, and in both cases we were stonewalled by the Bush White House, lied to, condescended to, treated, as the old joke goes, like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed manure.
George W. Bush appointed as head of FEMA a man who had spent the previous 11 years pimping for wealthy horse breeders. That's not just a mistake. That's not just bad judgment. That is malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance all rolled into one big, arrogant "screw you." This is contempt for the most fundamental role of government: safeguarding the lives of American citizens. FEMA head Mike Brown is a man completely over his head in this crisis. Not his fault. If you hire the head of the Kennel Club as Secretary of Defense you cannot then be surprised if the Army goes to the dogs. Hiring this unqualified man to head this vital front-line agency, FEMA, is not a crime, but it is criminally stupid, negligent and contemptuous. It does not rise to the level of impeachable offense under our Constitution. But it should.
We have put up with enough from this administration…
The Constitution did not create the modern version of the office of the Presidency. That evolved. The Framers were of the opinion that the Congress would be the dominant branch of government. It is time to return to that model. Now. Right now.
Congress could, by setting aside party and ignoring the White House, take control of national politics. Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate could simply bypass the White House by passing legislation with a Presidential signature, or over a Presidential veto. It is time for Democratic and Republican leaders to work out a bipartisan, pragmatic, real-world agenda for the next three years. To do something about infrastructure. To do something about our slavish dependency on foreign oil. To do something about environment. To do something about health care. To do something about our uncontrollable borders. To use the budgetary power to take over the running of American foreign policy…
Dear Congress: Forget party. Forget this White House. Fix this country.
Posted by Michael Reynolds
Yeah, what HE said...
Tell YOUR Congress representative what YOU think!
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