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EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
KARL WHO?
By Gary L. Coffman
Nice try, Mr. President, but your efforts to distract the
public from Public Enemy Number Two, won’t work. The evidence is too
tantalizing to allow the activities of your primary architect of dismantling
Democracy to escape notice, despite your sudden enthusiasm for proposing
more of the same old, same old.
Certainly, we needed a replacement for Supreme Court Justice, Sandra
Day O’Connor, but as she stated, she would serve until an approved nominee
was confirmed. To whit, no rush. But what have we here? A nominee in the
form of John Roberts, Jr. suddenly emerges just when Karl Rove is coming
under heavy, and I mean HEAVY, scrutiny. “Karl who?” you ask. The man whom
Roberts, Jr. won’t make go away. Even though Roberts, Jr. embodies the
boyish appearance of the Kennedy era (Is that supposed to equate with the
intellectual renaissance of that golden decade?), the White House’s
insistence on telling the American public what Roberts, Jr. thinks, when he
won’t tell America himself, is curious. Don’t you wonder what he does think;
or hasn’t Karl made up an answer yet? Karl has probably been too
preoccupied.
I find it fascinating that you selected a Conservative (gasp!),
but one who has just enough “baggage” guaranteed to stir up controversy and
divert attention from your campaign “mastermind” (small “m”) for some time,
probably past your October deadline. Convenient, isn’t it? Why would you
nominate a man who is at such a youthful stage apparently suffering from
senility when he declares he can’t remember if he was a paying member or on
the Steering Committee of the ultra conservative Federalist Society
Washington branch? Senility should come at the end of a Justice’s tenure,
not at the beginning. The American public is not senile. It will not be
asking, “Karl who?” during this diversion. Even your delaying tactic to
withhold documents that might hasten a speedy, enlightened, up or down vote
on “Bobby”, will not keep America from asking, “What about Karl Rove?”
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I don’t think the creation of an Islamic government
that looks more like Iran than America will go down well with any citizen of
the United States who has been asked to “stay the course.”
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Nice try, again, Mr. President. Your push for Social Security reform
went dormant the last few weeks. I don’t suppose Karl (“Karl, who?”) had
anything to do with it. Conveniently, this last week, you trotted out your
mother to thump your reform proposals. Gee whiz and whillikers, what need
does she have of reform? Why didn’t you get Queen Elizabeth if you were
looking for the well heeled and least needy? Wouldn’t it make more sense to
find a social security recipient trying to live on $500.00 a month to tell
the public she wished she had had a chance to invest her savings as an
employee of MacDonald’s (a Republican created job to get people off welfare
and boost the employment rate)? My parents had the sense to rely on their
own efforts and not governmental promises to guarantee a reasonably secure
lifestyle, but Social Security and Medi-Cal allowed them to die with dignity
when that lifestyle was forfeited to the State government in exchange for
medical care neither they nor their children could afford. What will Barbara
forfeit? Yes, this is a deeply felt personal issue for me, and for hundreds
of thousands of others, but that will not keep us from asking, “What about
Karl?”
Once more, nice try Mr. President, as you dredge up John Bolton,
another guaranteed lightning rod for the Press’ attention, who momentarily
slipped through the cracks. Now rumor has it you propose making him a
Presidential appointee to the U. N. without confirmation from the Senate on
the basis of just filling in the term vacancy. Certainly, the Press will be
asking what happened to the Democratic process, but I doubt if they really
expect an answer. However, they will still be asking, “What about Karl?”
Unfortunately, the one issue that just might aid you in momentarily
“hiding the goods” will be the “Democratization of Iraq.” If this week’s
events are any indication of what Americans have been promised when asked to
expend the lives of their sons and daughters in the quest of “Building
Democracy” (forget about “Weapons of Mass Destruction”) in the Middle East,
I don’t think the creation of an Islamic government that looks more like
Iran than America will go down well with any citizen of the United States
who has been asked to “stay the course.” No Presidential hug, no words of
“sacrifice, duty, honor and, of course, freedom” will prevent those bitter
tears from becoming evidence of folly at the highest levels. Even then,
Americans will still ask, “What about Karl?” More importantly, they may
begin asking, “What about George?”
Gary L. Coffman is a writer, poet, and retired English teacher.
GARY L. COFFMAN ARCHIVE:
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Karl Who?
Ray Bradbury Saw it All Coming
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