Olbermann: Bush, Cheney should resign
“I didn’t vote for him,” an American once said, “But he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.”
That–on this eve of the 4th of July–is the essence of this democracy, in 17 words. And that is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
The man who said those 17 words–improbably enough–was the actor John Wayne. And Wayne, an ultra-conservative, said them, when he learned of the hair’s-breadth election of John F. Kennedy instead of his personal favorite, Richard Nixon in 1960.
“I didn’t vote for him but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.”
Watch the entire commentary on MSNBC’s site–Olbermann was “so livid he was practically spitting,” as a friend so aptly put it. [You know, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who’s that pissed off, but I have to say, Olbermann’s a hell of a lot more coherent when he’s angry than I tend to be.]
But seriously, how many times does Bush have to blatantly ignore (and set himself and his cronies above) the very ideals that have made this fragile democracy work for so long? No one is above the law that governs the land, not even the president.
Something that’s stuck with me for a while, after watching a documentary about The West Wing, was Lanny Davis’ (special counsel to Clinton) comment about taking his children to the White House the day Nixon resigned, and telling them about how the most powerful man in the world left office that day: “[t]here was no militia, and there was no coup; it was the rule of law, and now a new man is taking office.”†
That is what is so remarkable about our country, that we can have so many people with so many different ideas agreeing to disagree and defending everyone’s right to express those ideas peaceably, all the while trusting that the person chosen for the highest office in the country will not abuse the powers granted to them temporarily, as they sit in place of all of those who live here when interacting with each other and the rest of the world.
It is, as Olbermann points out, the “sacred trust” that allows our country to function, “that the president for whom so many did not vote, can . . . suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.”
Which, of course, Bush has never done.
† (Davis’ kids, being pretty young at the time, predictably fell asleep while he was talking. *g*)
