TWO YEARS into its second term, the Bush Administration has shown a great aptitude for scandals, but little else. The latestinvolves Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who is under fire from Democrats after firing eight federal prosecutors from the Justice Department, allegedly for political reasons. The incident highlights what the administration has lost the most since 9/11: credibility. After years of profiting from a complacent general public, willing to make sacrifices for the larger good, incompetence and dishonesty can be said to have characterized much of President Bush's second term. In a White House suffering from increasing accusations and perceptions that pro-Bush loyalty trumps policy, the president can take an obvious first step by demanding the immediate resignation of the Attorney General.
Abu Ghraib and Katrina are some of the more embarrassing moments of Bush's presidency, but the failures themselves are sometimes just as noteworthy as the political aftermath, or lack thereof. The administration shows a remarkable tendency for secrecy in times of trouble, but they lack an appropriate sense of responsibility. Just days before the 2006 midterm elections, President Bush blatantly stated, for all the world to read and hear, "Both men [Cheney and Rumsfeld] are doing fantastic in their jobs." After the Democrats won the midterms, Rumsfeld mysteriously went from doing a "fantastic" job to doing a poor one and "offered" his resignation. Political posturing is most effective when things are going well; if politicians find themselves in trouble, bravado and cockiness usually garner negative opinions.
Why the president would say something so stupid is beyond comprehension, but the statement must be placed in the historical context of Bush's presidency -- one defined by an aversion towards anything challenging the neoconservative worldview. Salon magazine noted in December 2004 that Bush has held fewer solo news conferences than any other modern president. Bush has not really reversed this trend in the second term, coming on television to address ongoing calamities, such as Iraq, but refusing or failing to establish a meaningful connection between himself and the American people. The result has been sagging job approval ratings, even in areas where Bush usually impressed people, like honesty and strength of character. Lately, however, there seems to be nothing impressive about inappropriate responses and a lax attitude towards pressing issues or impending tragedies.
No one needs to kid themselves: President Bush is more or less a lame duck, and he will continue to be one for as long as Iraq festers with improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. But the recent Gonzalez fiasco provides the administration with a great opportunity to show they care, to prove that they are not walking mindlessly through disaster after disaster. They've made their mistake, which is something both Bush and Gonzalez acknowledge, and as a recent CNN article explains, "U.S. attorneys are political appointees who are routinely replaced when a new president takes office, but their removal in the middle of a presidential administration is rare -- and some say unprecedented." People should urge the administration to uphold whatever dignity it has left and to fire Alberto Gonzalez. There is enough evidence here to conclude that something went horribly wrong, and when things go horribly wrong in the government, heads have to roll -- something that this administration has been reluctant to follow through on.
The removal of the prosecutors for political reasons further highlights this White House's rough political mannerisms. Even excusing this -- after all, sometimes administrations have to be assertive and heavy-handed -- one fails to grasp why their reaction almost never matches the gravity of the situation. Nothing should preclude the administration from realizing that mistakes were made, and now they need to be fixed. President Bush apparently believes that he can explain and describe away the problems of any issue, but the people want him to do something tangible -- beyond political dirty work. He has less than two years left; if he does not want an antagonistic political atmosphere, he should start taking long overdue decisions. He should begin by firing Gonzalez.
Erald Kolasi's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ekolasi@cavalierdaily.com.
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