The I Word and the Albatross
We are in the doldrums: locked in an endless dance of
pointless antagonism between Congress and the White House, challenged both
domestically and internationally by complex if not intractable issues, and
paralyzed by what seems to be both a lack of will, and a lack of ideas.
In Coleridge’s Rhyme
of the Ancient Mariner, a ship with 200 souls escapes the killing cold of Antarctica,
led by an albatross to warmer seas, where fog awaits. When the Ancient Mariner, on impulse, shoots
the albatross, the sailors initially cheer, thinking the albatross caused the
fog. But the spirits are angry, and the
ship is driven into unchartered seas, to bake under the Equatorial sun. A
horrible fate awaits.
All in a hot and
copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at
noon,
'Right up above
the mast did stand,
No bigger than the
Moon.
Day after day, day
after day,
We stuck, no
breath no motion;
As idle as a
painted ship
Upon a painted
ocean.
What does one do when there is no breath and no motion?
When it comes to politics, at first, we tend to complain a
lot about whatever the issue du jour
is; the Middle East, jobs, taxes, sequesters, Trayvon, voting rights, guns,
contraception, spying and leaks about spying, etc. etc.
And then, because we are just ordinary people with lives,
and jobs, and families to take care of, we rouse ourselves and get on with
it. Shower, get dressed, check on our
kids, grab something to put in our stomachs, run to our cars or trains, and do
the thousand small chores that make up a day.
Most of us understand that; the conference call with the
client at 9:30 or the snaking out of the clogged drain or the PTA meeting is a
lot more important than the ritual denunciation (or praise) of a rodeo act in
Missouri. We just don’t have the time.
That is why we have politicians and pundits: to gripe on our
behalf. Also, presumably, to help lead
us, to make difficult decisions, to dive into the minutiae of legislation or
the big policy issues.
And yet, here we sit, baking in the sun, waiting for a
breeze.
The ship is not moving.
There is a lot of activity below deck, fevered scuttling about, bloviating
and sheer fantasy masquerading as progress. Mr. Obama has a prosaic dream of
the day when the GOP will agree to any one of his ideas. His opponents, however, have something far
more titillating in mind: Impeach the bum!
Impeachment as a form of autoeroticism might seem to some of
us as a tad perverse, but it’s essentially harmless when indulged in in the
privacy of one’s own home. Think of it as a victimless crime among consenting
adults. However, some seem to be taking
it outdoors. Ted Cruz loves the idea but says he doesn’t have enough votes in
the Senate. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) said it would be a “dream
come true.” The very conservative but usually measured Senator Tom
Coburn (R-Oklahoma) has talked about it in a public meeting. Republican shock
jocks from every direction are calling for it and major right wing newspapers
and columnists try to plough the field, writing continuously of Obama’s
“lawlessness”. Ed Rodgers, the GOP
consultant who blogs for the Washington Post, has even gone so far as to say
Mr. Obama is asking for it. Rumor has it
that Boehner, if he wanted it, already has the 218 votes in the House to
impeach. High Noon for High Crimes and
Misdemeanors. The excitement is
palpable.
The litany of crimes that Mr. Obama is accused of is so long
that it would take me several posts just repeat them, much less take the time
to analyze and debunk them. The only thing he isn’t blamed for is the death of
Vince Foster. But once you get past the
“scandals” that the GOP refuses to have anyone besides Darrell Issa investigate,
and you eliminate any action that Obama has taken that every President before
him has, you end up with a very odd sediment at the bottom of the dish. Obama should be impeached because he isn’t likeable,
isn’t doing what they want, isn’t conducting policy as they would, isn’t
appointing people they would appoint.
In ordinary times this would be just tiresome (and
embarrassing) partisanship, and the leadership would tamp it down so bigger
issues could be dealt with. For example,
if anyone would care to notice, the Middle East could go up in flames any
minute.
But somehow, you get the feeling that logic will not
prevail, and the GOP will take a shot at the albatross. How far it goes is to be determined, but it
is a very small step from the 40th vote to repeal Obamacare to the 1st
vote to repeal Obama.
And, more importantly, if they do go down this road, it will
be all consuming, because the GOP seems out of other ideas. If you thought the
2012 Presidential election set new standards in vacuity, I would simply respond
that records are meant to be broken.
You need to look no further than Syria to see that. Every Republican on the planet has been
denouncing Mr. Obama for his abject failures there--and they are failures. How
about solutions? Not so many. Need proof?
Read Eliot Cohen’s article in the Washington Post, Syria will require more than cruise missiles. Mr. Cohen is a
prominent neo-con and a former member of the Bush Administration. He called for war against Iran in 2001 in an
opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, and was a member of the
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which advocated invasion in Iraq in
2003. Presently, he is Robert E. Osgood
Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. Clearly, he has the conservative credentials,
and the policy chops. Cohen takes Obama
to task for all the mistakes he made, and dismisses a host of present options
as being inadequate. Does Dr. Cohen (Ph.D.
Harvard) have some recommendations?
Actually, none that he cares to share with us. One could speculate he’s chomping for boots
on the ground, but he won’t say it. Perhaps
that is because barely a quarter of Americans support military intervention? Or
perhaps, he doesn’t know what to do, just what not to do.
And that about sums it up. Arguing not for something, but always against.
Blustering, in the absence of substance.
Shooting at things without thinking through the consequences. Impeachment, instead of ideas.
Here’s some wisdom from Coleridge: When a bird comes your way, leave it
alone. It could end up being a real
albatross.
MM
