Thursday, February 03, 2005

It’s the Accountability, Stupid

I continue to believe that one of our core values has to be accountability. The current administration seems dedicated to creating a 100% accountability-free environment, where the broadest promises can be freely ignored without consequence. What’s our mission in Iraq? To disarm Saddam. Pre 9/11, is terrorism important? No, not really. What’s the best way to stave off recession? Tax cuts. The best way to get out of a recession? Tax cuts. The best way to create jobs? Tax cuts. Best way to trim the deficit? Tax cuts. Most comfortable chair to sit in for the Super Bowl? Tax cuts.

In the end, accountability is a form of credibility. When congressional candidate Bush swore on a stack of bibles that Social Security would be flat-broke, busted in just 10 years, and 1988 sailed by with no actual bankruptcy, this should diminish the guy’s credibility when he starts crying wolf 25 years later.

I can think of no more apt literary reference for the boy-president than the boy who cried wolf. Saddam! Gay marriage! Social Security collapse!

To say nothing of No 9/11 inquiry! No Condi testifying! No Me testifying! No increase in death benefits to those killed in combat! And so on.

One of these days, this guy is going to need us to believe him for real, and a whole bunch of us will have a hard time putting aside our oft-vindicated skepticism.

1 comment:

James W. Pharo said...

Just to clarify, this post is about the President's refusal to discuss the circumstances under which we will leave Iraq, or to consider setting some milestones for when that will happen.

Think abou thow a project at work would go if there were no deliverables, no timelines, no deadlines and no individual responsibility.

Just the boss saying, "trust me. I'm a good guy."