Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Commentary October, 2008 The current administration's days are drawing to an end. With less than a month to the election, and less than three months until a new president takes office, the administration has become an afterthought in the minds of the American public. Anything important is being done by Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, and, too a lesser extent, Secretaries Rice and Gates and the Generals on the ground in Iraq and Iran. No one is paying any attention at all to the President, the Vice President, or any other senior person in the Executive branch. Anathema to most of its own party, and a hissing and a byword to the opposition, the administration is limping to a close.
There is still time for mischief, but the level of exhaustion at the top, and the complete mistrust it has engendered at home and abroad, limit the scope of the mischief that can be accomplished. The original Treasury bail-out plan had Cheney's fingerprints all over it. It was as if Secretary Paulson cobbled together an economic program, and then it was vetted by Cheney for the requisite paranoia, secrecy and non-accountability additions. These of course, didn't fly, even with the Republicans in Congress, and were replaced with reasonable measures of oversight and auditability. (see our article "TAPR" for our analysis of the content of the bill that was passed.)
All that's left now is the election, which looks at this time to be a sweep for the Democrats, and the frantic shredding of records to protect those who might be criminally liable for their actions while in government. Top paraphrase Gerald Ford, a less than outstanding President who looks like Thomas Jefferson compared to the current incumbent, our long national nightmare will soon be over. Unfortunately, the hangover (war, debt, a trashed economy and a trashed Constitution) will remain long after the nightmare ends.
The historians will not deal kindly with this administration, but it may comfort the President to know that when the history of the Cheney administration is written, George W. Bush will be a mere footnote.
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com