Lather, Rinse, Repeat

I have to admit that I've done far more basketball watching than news reading. I've come to two conclusions: first, that it's either a great day or a really sad day when you can pick the higher seeds and win, and second, clearly none of us should ever commit anything to email again. The fact that we can all be entertained reading the Bush adminstration's inner-thought processes on firing U.S. Attorneys should give us all pause. I mean, they're not up there with the famous Brownie emails, staring at disaster and pondering rolling up his sleeves, or Foley's creepy getting-to-you-know text messages, nonetheless, it drives home that nothing we say is ever really confidential. Or undiscoverable. Or, in fact, really that necessary. Couldn't the Bush folks have just walked down the hall and chatted like the rest of us?

Like most Americans, I think I'm fascinated by the idea of a showdown over Congressional subpoenas. I picture Karl Rove tucked behind the White House gates, refusing to come out, and angry congressmen singing "We Shall Overcome" on the Capitol steps. (I also picture the Supreme Court going on vacation suddenly, figuring they must have learned a lesson from the Bush-Gore thing.) Think Iran-Contra, sans Playboy-caliber secretaries (pretty sure that doesn't happen in George Bush's America).

I have no objection to the hiring and firing of top government officials for political reasons - it happens all the time. But this seems sloppy, and just that one step too far I've come to expect. Take a basic idea, e.g. that top executive branch officials serve at the pleasure of the President. This is not a new concept. These are relatively routine actions. And yet instead of simply clearing house, we get selective firings, of attorneys with high performance ratings who might have a notion to prosecute political corruption.

And again, we have an administration that couldn't make its up mind exactly what it wanted to do, or how it might accomplish what it wanted to do. We have emails over a few months going back and forth among a handful of folks, hemming and hawing before finally acting. Having acted, the administration delays responding to criticism. Delays become denials until criticism becomes overwhelming. Then the administration alienates its allies. Once the allies are gone, the wagons are circled, and the waiting game begins: how long can the President hold onto his indignation at being questioned before he bows to the inevitable and lets someone go?

The sad thing is, we all know that's how it will end. We all know the best thing to do is admit that, in the classic phrase, "mistakes were made," and move on. And yet, conventional wisdom and common sense to the contrary, the President will maintain that his way is the best way, the only way, and that not to worry - he's doing a heckuva job.