Time To Face The Music

How long before Scooter Libby is singing like a little girl? My guess is, not long. With a wife and two school age children, legal bills, the prospect of jail and the fear of something far worse will have him crumbling like my morning coffee cake in no time at all. His career is effectively over and his friends may be offering to help now, but that will soon dry up. If Dick Cheney is anything like the previous Dick in the White House, his paranoia will get the better of him and he will cut his former chief of staff loose completely even before Scooter has a chance to talk.

Those who have served in the highest echelons of power know the deal, friendships on the inside tend to deteriorate once you’re on the outside looking in. “I’ve got your back” only applies to those still in power, once the power dynamic shifts it becomes a race to cover your own ass. My husband pointed out that Scooter now understands what it’s like to be a black man in America with his future prospects involving either a violent death or jail. A pretty impressive fall from grace for a middle-aged white man with a degree from Yale.

I for one hope that Libby does sing although his song won’t be pleasant to listen to, even for those of us who desperately want to know the truth. What has happened to our country is ugly. What we have allowed our government to do in our name is shameful. The fact that we must take responsibility for it is a bitter pill to swallow for those of us who have been screaming in an effort to make it stop long before it even began. But accept it we must and we should jump at any chance to atone for the sins we have committed as a country and as a people. It is our failure no matter how you look at it. We didn’t stop our government from killing innocent people so that we could pay less at the pump. We didn’t shout loud enough when our elected (or not, it really doesn’t matter in the end) officials demonized one billion people based on their religion. The awful truth will be hard to face, I just hope we get the chance.

So Scooter, please be careful while crossing the street, remove all the guns from your house, and by all means, stay off of public transportation. Now that you have irreparably damaged the CIA’s ability to track weapons of mass destruction through your outing of Valerie Plame, who knows what the evil-doers may have planned.