INDICATE CHARGES MIGHT BE FORTHCOMING AGAINST ADMINISTRATION PLAYERS

Barack Obama ‘s choice for VP, Senator Joe Biden had Dems nationwide rejoicing this week with the announcement that the Obama Administration may pursue criminal charges against the George W. Bush and top members of his administration for misdeeds committed during the past eight years.

Biden’s comments confirm similar news reported by Recovering Liberal pundit, Henry Honig earlier this year following a sit-down with New York Congressman, Jerrold Nadler.

“We will not be stopped from pursuing any criminal offence that’s occurred,” according to the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. “If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued – not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law.”

Tough talk notwithstanding, the Delaware Senator admitted not having any evidence that criminal charges would be warranted. “What is true, according to Biden, is the United States Congress is trying to preserve records on questions that relate to whether or not the law has been violated by anyone. But, you know, there’s been an awful lot of unsavory stuff that’s gone on. And the mere fact … that it occurred in a previous administration doesn’t mean [a subsequent] Justice Department, if, in fact, there’s evidence, shouldn’t pursue them. “But I have no evidence of any of that.”

Like most progressives I would love to see Bush, Cheney and company forced to do the perp walk. Their list of offenses is endless: from misleading the American People to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of mass destruction, and posed an imminent threat to the United States; to invading a sovereign nation without a Declaration of War; to failing to provide our fighting men and women with the proper weapons and body armor; to falsifying accounts of US troop deaths and injuries for political gain; to exposing classified information and subsequent obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame matter, to providing Immunity from prosecution for criminal contractors in Iraq; to reckless misspending and waste of U.S. tax dollars in connection with Iraq and US contractors; to failing to manage the work product of these contractors, or to institute penalties for missed deadlines, cost overruns or sub-standard work; to illegally detaining without charges both U.S. citizens and foreign captives, to secretly authorizing, and encouraging the use of torture against captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere; to kidnapping people and taking them against their will to nations known to practice torture; to imprisoning children; to misleading Congress and the American people about threats from Iran; to supporting terrorist organizations within Iran, with the goal of overthrowing the legitimate Iranian Government; to creating secret laws and using questionably legal signing statements to disregard the will of congress and violate the law; to violating the Posse Comitatus Act; to spying on American citizens, without a court-ordered warrant; to directing telecommunications companies to create an illegal and unconstitutional database of the private telephone numbers and e-mails of American citizens; to failing to comply with congressional subpoenas and instructing former employees including White House Counsel, Harriet Miers, former political adviser Karl Rove, and current chief of staff Josh Bolten, not to comply; to tampering with free and fair Elections; to conspiring to violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965; to misleading Congress and the American people in an attempt to destroy Medicare; to failing to plan for the predicted disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and for failing to respond to a civil emergency; to misleading Congress and the American people, while systematically undermining efforts to address global climate change; to repeatedly ignoring and failing to respond to high level intelligence warnings of planned terrorist attacks in the US, prior to 911; to obstructing the investigation into the attacks of September 11, 2001; to endangering the health of 911 first responders by lying about the true condition of the air surrounding Ground Zero.

Surely men as bright as Obama and Biden can find a charge or twenty worth pursuing from this list. To be honest, I can’t imagine how they couldn’t. But this is after all an election year and pledging biblical style retribution, no matter how deserved, might scare off from voting for Obama, Biden, the men and women voters who mistakenly believe George Bush to be an honorable man.

Now whether any of these people could bring themselves to vote for Obama, Biden, remains to be seen. Logically speaking, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the best men for the job and have the most realistic plan for America’s future, which Barack Obama brilliantly outlined in his speech at the Democratic Convention last week.

But logic, unfortunately, does not drive American politics. Superstitious nonsense does. How else can we explain the habit of far too Americans consistently voting against what is best for them? This phenomenon, though more obvious in recent years, is not new. It has been happening ever since the time of the great communicator, Ronald Reagan, a man who while he appeared to the masses as a populist, did more than any other president, except for maybe the current George Bush, to destroy the middle class while overseeing one of the largest transfers of wealth from the middle to upper class in our nation’s history, a transfer that continues to this day.

Speaking for progressive members of We The People, I am cool with Obama and Biden sidestepping the issue of retribution against Bush, Cheney, Rove and company for now, as long as they return to it in the early days of the new administration. As Bush used to say following the 911 attacks, revenge is better savored cold, or some such thing.

What do you think?

- Denis