Plame

September 29, 2003

I suppose some folks are wondering what I think of the whole Valerie Plame affair, “covered nicely here at OSPolitics”:http://www.ospolitics.org/blog/archives/2003/09/29/the_valeri.php. I have a number of thoughts. Some of them perhaps more valuable than others.

# Why did the SCLM sit on this for two months?
# Why oh why does everyone have to take the easy way out and make some sort of headline that rhymes poor Valerie’s name with “flame” and “blame”?
# Is this really the way we want to discredit our presidents?

Take a breath before you jump on me with claws bare. Think a moment: what two things threatened the Clinton presidency more than anything else? Whitewater and Zippergate. And what’s put the Bush presidency in a bind right now? One blown cover of one agent.

I don’t want to minimize the seriousness of blowing a covert operative’s cover for partisan purposes. But — and this is my point — even if he doesn’t survive this debacle, Bush’s credibility should have been mincemeat a long time before now.

Why is it that one high-profile screw up that affects a handful of people directly gains more attention, criticism and ridicule from both media and public than a whole string of policy decisions that kick Americans out of school, rob them of health care, job stability, and prosperity?

Why are people more concerned about Plame than they are the Bush decisions that have affected them or will affect them personally?

The same goes for any president. Why do we focus on one glamorous incident that harms few, while we snore through the incidents that harm many?

Is it because the Plame incident is easy to understand, and the other requires a grasp of economics?

What does that say about the feasibility and efficacy of democracy in general?

Don’t get me wrong, I want people to vote against Bush in the next election. But I want them to do it because his plan for America is wrong, not because one of his advisors pulled a bone-headed, sleazy, vicious stunt.

Posted in Archived Unsorted