Necessities of the Unwinnable Fight

As the Bush Administration wraps up, and the Obama Administration considers how to best use their political capital, the question remains...what's to be done about George W. Bush and his cronies? Torture, wiretapping, abuse of power... these are just a few of the allegations laid at the feet of this President, and considering the shape he's left our nation in, many are calling for charges to be brought against him, Dick Cheney, and many of the senior members of his White House.

I'm of two minds on the subject. For one, I think he has commited crimes against the United States, it's reputation, and possibly even humanity in general. Like any American, when I see injustice, I want to see punishment. As an avid student of politics, and supporter of Barack Obama, I want him to tackle a broad and comprehensive agenda without being bogged down in partisan politics and the past. In a perfect world, he could both solve our economic problems and investigate the actions of the Bush Administration without having his public support diminished. Though most of the nation likes Barack Obama at the moment and a vast majority disapproves of President Bush, that could change if it looks like a partisan attack. Just ask Ken Starr.

The other problem being that as this term comes to a close, and President Bush clearly sees the writing on the walls, his crafty minions are already finding ways to push through last minute orders, and those could include blanket pardons for the people who perpetrated many of these criminal actions that would come under investigation once GW leaves office. So now the problem becomes that President Obama could be spending valuable time, resources, and political capital investigating crimes that no one would be held legally accountable for. You wouldn't write a traffic ticket for a man who died in a car crash, would you?

The fact is, though, that no matter what the cost in political capital, this is important. Maybe there will be no convictions, and maybe fear of political repercusions will have to mean a less aggressive legal process. Still, while there are many important issues to face in the coming years, it is first important to reaffirm what this country stands for, what is legal, and who is above the law (namely, no one). Even if President Bush is never convicted of a single crime, nor anyone who worked with him, it's important that they be held to a standard in the court of public opinion and in the annals of history. Otherwise, future Presidents will attempt the same abuses of power, secure in the knowledge that their is precedence for those acts and the subsequent evasion of responsiblity.

We the people need to know. We need to know just what the United States has been up to, and what the rest of the world has seen us do. We need to know just what damage was done so that we can repair it and prevent it. We need to know who's to blame of course, and they should be held accountable if only in our own opinions of them. More importantly, though, we need the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. As we've learend time and again, we can't just ignore the past and hope for a brighter future. Our first step towards the change we need is an understanding of the way that was.