Scandal Nothing New In White House
While controversy and corruption surround the current administration, it seems as though many things never change. The consensus is that it’s no big deal about I. Lewis Libby, the man with the boy nickname, leaking information about CIA operative Valerie Plame but the big deal lies within the notion that it is no big deal and written off as just another scandal in the White house. If that is what the nation has come to expect from the executive branch of the Government, isn’t that a big deal?
The current administration is having a really bad month. Historically bad. However, it really is nothing new. Looking back at other administrations, Liberal or Conservative, there have always been bureaucratic criminals. Dating back to the foremost author of our beloved Constitution, James Madison and his manipulation of the American people (although not as some critics of the war of 1812 make it out to be). Then at the extreme end of the spectrum there is Harding and the deep scandal that nearly destroyed the Presidency in the early 20th century. But it doesn’t stop there: Jackson, Jefferson, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, L.B. Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and now both Bush’s. Sure, every administration has been involved in some sort of corruption or scandal but here a few worth noting.
Nixon had Watergate we all know that. Kennedy had Cuba, Russia, the Cold War, the mafia, and extreme nepotism. Andrew Jackson had the Federal Bank and countless hostile opposition against his opponents. Theodore Roosevelt started the trend of over stepping boundaries to give more power to the executive branch. FDR had the baiting of Pearl Harbor and the New Deal, which spawned the era of deficit spending by our government. LBJ had Vietnam. Regan had the Iran-contra scandal and ‘Reaganomics’ aimed at destroying the deficit. George Sr. had Grenada, Iraq part one, and foreign business ventures with known terrorists. Clinton had a few money scandals in his administration and womanizing. Then there’s Jr. with a laundry list as long as the Trade Center Towers were tall.
G.W. Bush has done just about everything a conservative president could do wrong. He increased spending in the government, federally regulated education, centralized executive control with the Patriot Act, enforced tariffs on imports and exports, and most recently nominated two moderately conservative judges for the Supreme Court. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been impeached by his own party, or at least slapped on the wrist, diplomatically. But most importantly he has been involved in his fair share of scandal. He has appointed unqualified people for top positions, most notably Brown for FEMA, been accused of allowing 9-11 to happen, waged war for no proven reason on Iraq, isolated the White House, made boatloads of cash in the same way his father did by dealing with corrupt corporations, of course pulling the Patriot Act over everyone’s eyes, and now the “Scooter” leak. The next question is, how much of the proposed $200 billion to fix New Orleans will he pocket?
Who knows, maybe it’s not him? Maybe his dad is still pulling the strings. Maybe Karl Rove is feeding him all these ideas. Or maybe George W. Bush is the single most intelligent president our country has ever seen and his agenda has been accomplished masterfully through misconception and manipulation. The general consensus is, however, that this is most definitely not the case.
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