I, like everyone else in the lefty blogosphere, have been suffering from constant attacks of outrage for years. Iraq, Katrina, Plame, Abu Graib, the USA scandals…you name it. I’m shocked my blood pressure isn’t sky high. My husband, who is just as pissed off but much more pragmatic than I, has the practical experience of Watergate that I, at my age, do not. We’ve talked endlessly about this administration over the years, and I’m finally realizing that he’s right.
The right wing has become so power hungry that it is collectively unwilling (or maybe even unable) to acknowledge the wrongs that are perpetrated by their own. Unlike the liberal/progressive community who tries to rid itself of corruption, criminality, and stupidity as often as possible (the $90K in the freezer is a good example), the right is incapable of it.
We on the left DO have the momentum with us at this point. The country has turned against Fearless Leader with a vengeance. We have majorities, such as they are, in both chambers of Congress. While the MSM continues to ignore the enormity of the transgressions this administration has perpetrated, they are definitely not nearly as infatuated with the right as they once were.
But the downside is that we ARE on the downside. The clock is running out. The 2008 elections are already on the minds of voters as campaigns build their cash vaults. The eyes of the country are focused on the future.
Meanwhile, our leaders in Congress are still conditioned to run away at the slightest sound of criticism from the opposite side of the aisle, tails tucked firmly between their legs. Like victims of long-term abuse, they attempt to stand up to their oppressors, only to run the minute one of them snarls in empty fury. There aren’t going to be any congressional or DOJ investigations during this administration, both because the left side of Congress is scared, and because the right won’t acknowledge that something stinks.
As time passes and public consciousness turns away from the Bush administration in hopes of finding a new light in a burgeoning field of candidates, guess what’s going o happen? As the klieg lights begin to focus on Hillary and Barack and John (and, unfortunately, Rudy and Mitt and Fred), I believes that Bu$hco is going to be able to hide more and more under the rug in efforts to exonerate itself from the crimes of the preceding eight years. The American public just doesn’t have the mental bandwidth to watch everything all at once, even if the activist community does.
The bottom line is this: it’s not going to be undone in time. None of it is. We, as progressives/liberals/Democrats/<insert your label here>, need to instead focus on building the base, electing a solid majority in BOTH houses of Congress, and throwing the wingnuts out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
We can use the ongoing high crimes of this administration and its cronies to make our point and to get this done. But we will not stop them from continuing to plague this country with non-stop criminal acts….we have to eject them from office altogether.
Keep doing the research. Keep screaming to the bloody rafters about the bullshit we’ve been victims of. Keep making the noise. But it needs to be directed at getting elected, but otherwise it’s just noise.
And my outrage, and yours, is worth a hell of a lot more than that.
