Well, 2009 has finally arrived and it’s only 20 days until the administration of President Elect Barrack Obama takes over the reins of the United States government. I’m honestly not sure which is more significant – the arrival of Obama or the departure of George W Bush. It’s a new year and I’m trying to be positive in my thinking, but the reality of the past eight years is close to overwhelming. The damage of the Bush years is so huge, I believe we will be feeling it for many years to come. There will continue to be additional “foopahs” discovered as time goes by where George Bush’s administration, either purposefully or through utter incompetence, have set back the fortunes of this great nation beyond what for me is conceivable. I like to compare his damage to some of the folly that came from the mouth of Donald Rumsfeld while he was still Secretary of Defense and screwing up our foreign policy in Iraq. At the end of one of his diatribes he concluded with words resembling: “There are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns,” that is to say there are problems we haven’t discovered yet.

Well, I just couldn’t find words to put it any better than that. I really want to look ahead and think in terms of the ideas that might foster some kind of positive result as we, as a nation, try to pull ourselves out of the scrap-heap that Bush/Cheney is leaving behind. THIS IS GOING TO BE HARD – and, as I’ve said many times, we will not be able to do this by strictly “looking forward.” The republicans have not been defeated yet. Complacency on the part of President Obama and the Democratic party in regards to the Republicans will be disastrous. These guys are not going to want Obama to succeed “For the good of the country” because if he succeeds, they won’t be back in office for maybe a couple generations. So, tonight I want to attempt to both look ahead and behind at the same time. That is to say, take a look at some “redirection” that might address the changes needed to get this nation headed in a morally acceptable direction and that doesn’t “gloss over” what has fueled the downward spiral which has resulted in the present set of disastrous circumstances.

This might seem insignificant to many, but I believe that a subject of national importance should be integrity. Let me kind of rephrase that so that the people I hang out with will better understand; lying by politicians. Most of my friends, and should someone actually be reading this – keep in mind that I’ve been voting for 0ver 40 years and you had to be 21 when I cast my first vote – just so you know what my friends might look like, can remember that back in the seventies there were actually some politicians that didn’t lie all the time. Now, I’m going to place the blame on this significant change on the Republican party, but please don’t misunderstand me – I believe by today’s standards finding any politician from either party who doesn’t routinely lie is a tough challenge. But, let me take you back to Watergate. For those of you old enough to remember this fiasco, it was the result of the Nixon administration (Republican) acting like an organized crime syndicate (sound familiar?). What was significant to me, as I looked back on that time, was that there were some members of Nixon’s “team” who were willing to tell the truth, which is ultimately what brought it down.

Additionally, the congress was made up of some people who actually had some “cohunas.” They knew something was wrong and they went after it as if it was important to send a message that the President was not above the law. This was the time period when the FISA legislation that George W Bush basically disregarded was passed – with bi-partisan support – because Congress understood the importance of its “oversight” role and the members seemingly took a different view of their pledge to defend the constitution upon taking their oath of office than today’s Congress. Another significant part of that memory was the fact that the “culprits” of Nixon’s administration openly castigated the people who told the truth about what was going on as “traitors.” The one who I remember the most was G Gordon Liddy, who is still spewing his vile garbage to this day – and probably has a larger republican audience today than he had then. And if you’ve never listened to the stuff that comes out of Liddy’s mouth, you really need to Google him and either listen to or read some of his trash before you’ll fully understand me. The heart of the Nixon administration felt that lying and cheating were just part of the “game” and that politics was about nothing more than power.

A few years later we got Ronald Reagan. You know, the nice grandfatherly like figure who was going to “cut taxes and balance the budget.” Well, if you’ve been paying attention at all to where our government is right now – you can give Reagan a lot of credit for that. He was famous for saying that “Government is the problem, not the solution.” Aside from the fact that Reagan’s economic ideas have led us collectively to the poor house, it was under his “regime” that we had “Iran/Contra.” This was another organized crime like scheme for republican insiders to be able to have another secret war – this time in South America – directly against the will of Congress. We got another group of excellent liars from this fiasco, among them the most famous would probably be Oliver North – whom republicans have managed to lift up to heroic status, despite the fact he was convicted of lying to Congress on several occasions. And, of course, they either turned their collective backs or pardoned anyone involved and I guess by this time the Democrats had pretty much lost their spine – being a “liberal” was a dirty word in those days and there weren’t too many willing to stand up for what was right. To make matters worse, when Bill Clinton entered the White House he chose to look the other way (as I’m afraid Obama is going to do with GW Bush and Company) and all these criminals resurfaced again after the Supreme Court installed the second Bush administration.

So, lying was an accepted practice and didn’t face much opposition, once George W Bush moved into the White House. And, as we all know, he and his cronies have taken it to another level. The part about this that bothers me the most is the willingness of my Christian friends to accept it as business as usual in Washington. When the clergy that are supporting Presidents (and I believe they should be focused soley on their churches and the souls of those attending them) are willingly lying and saying it’s OK because the ends justify the means – THEN WE’VE GONE WAY TOO FAR. When lying felons (Ollie North for example, or G Gordon Libby) are lifted up as heroes and become filthy rich because people think their lying was justified – then our whole sytem of government is in the crumbling stage.

Therefore, in my attempt to look both forward and backward at the same time with an idea for helping us move on to a better society, I believe this is a good place to start. President Obama, as he has done, could stake a moral claim to this issue very easily. The first way he could do this is to direct his new attorney general to clean up the legal “waste” of the Bush administration – most of which has been built on lies. Alberto Gonzales was so pathetic when he was testifying in front of Congress that it was embarrassing. EVERYONE KNEW HE WAS SPEWING ONE LIE AFTER ANOTHER! What was even more embarrassing and disgusting, to me, was that nothing was done about it! What kind of message did that send to the people of this great nation? It seems to me the message was that it’s OK to lie. And Dick Cheney is still lying us, or seemingly so as he tries to redirect history while packing his bags to get out of the Vice President’s residence, into the Iraq war – 5 years after everyone figured out it was a built on lies.

Republicans are lying about the economy, some going to the incredible extent to blame our pending depression on Obama over a month before he actually has any authority (even I couldn’t believe that one). I could go on and on, the lying has become routine in Washington, and the Republicans are un-apologetic about it. I just finished a book called “The Wrecking Crew” by Thomas Frank where Republican insiders like Grover Norquist and Tom Delay brag about lying and boast about how weak the Democrats are – which is one thing I can agree with them on. These guys should be in jail – especially Delay – he’s another criminal that somehow has managed to maintain a celebrity status despite a long line of dishonest dealings.

Once Obama has set in motion the legal remedy for the past dishonesty, he needs to claim the future “High ground.” He needs to do this in a way that lets all Americans know that no one in his administration, including the President himself, is above the law and that lying will not be tolerated. Of course, that will require leadership on Obama’s part – the best way he can challenge the presiding viewpoint that all politicians lie, is to set the correct example himself. I believe it’s great that he wants to work “across the isle” and his goal is national unity, but it will never happen if he doesn’t do these two things I’ve pointed out here. President Obama must prosecute the past liars and facilitate honesty in politics through his own behavior. For anyone who might read this and think I’m being totally naive here, I can only tell you that the direction we’re headed is toward third world status. There is, of course, more to “The Change We Need” than honesty in government, but that would be a great start!