Scotty, Scotty Scotty We Thought We Knew Ye Well.

I have yet to run out and buy the Scott McClellan expose' of the current standing administration and will probably wait until it is on the deep discount shelf at Borders or better yet I will put my library card to good use and get it there for a quick scan. I do however, have several observations that I would like to make as our guy Scott is on the tour of talk shows trying to drum up as much interest in his work as possible. It is a well known fact that I am not the biggest fan of this Bush administration or the last for that matter, but I have pretty much always maintained that he is probably not a bad guy and in fact just a regular guy thrust into a job he was not necessarily well suited for. Now the cast members of this current administration, if I can call them that, are a "whole nother story". McClellan states that George Bush is a good and decent guy who was deceived by those around him for their own purposes, I can buy that one. However, I would hope that one of the prerequisites for becoming president would be the ability to judge character, and before you jump to conclusions this applies to his senior advisers as well as the blabby Mr. McClellan. Which brings me to today's point.

I am forced to digress to the day's of infamy when the Nixon administration ruled the world, then touch on the Clinton years and will then fast forward back to the present at the speed of light. There has been news in the last few days about the Watergate break in, that finally implicates John Mitchel, president Nixon's Attorney General, as the principle architect of the break in and I am sure had a great deal to do with the advising on handling the fallout, which in case you have forgotten or are to young to remember turned into one of the worst political disasters of all time. Nixon was an incredibly intelligent man in his own right and I believe far more astute than the current president, adviser wise, Henry Kissinger alone stood heads above anyone in the White House today but, the rest of Nixon's guys were quite average and based on their actions and behavior were basically the same as the guy's there today in that they were essentially self serving tools more intent on feathering their own nests than looking out for their boss. When the s _ _ t hit the fan Nixon's inner circle all ratted out their boss to try to save their collective skins, went on to write their own expose's in an attempt to clear their own names and heap as much blame on their old boss as possible, for goodness sake, John Dean should have earned an Emmy for the blubbering act he gave on the national news, the only exception was Gordon Liddy who understood the concepts of duty and loyalty. Liddy did time in prison because he refused to rat out his boss and never has, keeping this in mind I move to the Clinton administration where everyone associated with Bill Clinton did much of the same as Nixon's guy's. I wrote to Bill Clinton about this dilemma in American Politics and asked him why he was unable to find people who had integrity and principle that understood the concept of loyalty to their leader. Well, in the Clinton case he may not have been the best leader but the office at least commands those qualities from those who want to serve. I actually received a response in the form of a nice personal letter from Mr. Clinton but, with no real explanation as I'm sure he was even embarrassed buy this phenomenon and couldn't muster a rational response. However I have several and think they hold water, so here goes.

Back in the here and now, presidents are drafted by their parties and or powerful interests and as such they, the president elect and his close advisers or friends, have to take on staff members who are, shall I be so bold as to say, forced on them for lack of a better phrase. It is virtually impossible for any one person to have a circle of friends and associates large enough to fill the bill required to run this country and therefore some rats will invariably make the cut. In this as other administrations, rats made it into some pretty influential jobs, let me see DCDRKRL"S"LSMc. Then there is the greed, power angle that comes into play. Some people will say and do anything to get into positions of power and influence, so much so, that they lose complete track of what is right and wrong. In the case of Mr. McClellan, the Valerie Plame mess, which was from all appearances a petty "get even with Joe Wilson by outing his secret agent (actually low level clerk) wife" stunt perpetrated from above, apparently pushed him over the edge and ultimately out of the White House inner circle. Or is he just a goof that was tricked into writing a tell all book and in the process has maneged to make himself undesirable to everyone. My best guess is the last.