If you’ve been reading any of my posts lately you may be feeling a bit like me, that is I’m overly obsessed with the need for President Elect Obama and his Justice Department to clean up the legal mess left by the Bush administration. I’ve been ranting about this for about two months (I’d say I’ve been obsessed with it for far longer, it is one of the main things that drew my support toward Obama, comments he made early in his campaign which he now appears to be drawing away from) and today I was a somewhat encouraged as the “debate” made center stage so to speak. First, this morning before I left for work, I read the NY Times online as I always do and Paul Krugman – in my mind one of the best opinion columnists I have read in my 61 years – made a very coherent and practical explanation why investigating the Bush “regime” is so important. Then, tonight Keith Olberman took it a step further. He not only interviewed Jonathan Turley, a libertarian law professor from George Washington University (I think), who made a clear case why Obama would be making a HUGE mistake to look the other way – in fact, I agree with what I thought I heard Turley say which was that if Obama doesn’t prosecute wrongdoings that he is cognitively aware of, then he begins his administration violating the oath that he will take on Tuesday of next week. For someone who sent Obama money (and believe me, I can’t afford to be sending politicians money) that is a chilling and somewhat depressing thought.

I really want to go into this next period in American history with a sense of optimism, knowing that somehow the core of this great nation which has got us to this point in time will be able to pull us out of circumstances that seem beyond daunting. After interviewing Turley, Olberman listed the abuses of the last eight years. There have been so many that I believe most Americans are pretty much numb to the whole situation. But, finally Bush and company are heading out of town and their arrogance is firmly in place as witness the exit interviews, news conference, and goodbye speech of GW. I feel as certain as I’m sitting here writing this, if Obama lets them walk, it’s just a matter of time until my daughters or my granddaughters are writing the same story. This has not been a few accidental foopahs by well intentioned men. This has been crime after crime by a group of people who despise government and feel that the laws the rest of us have to follow are simply not applicable to them – there is always a way around anything. They have bullied and intimidated their way through eight of the worse years I can remember – they almost hid the damage by promoting a false economy built on borrowing to pay for borrowing – on speculation and gambling and on a system designed to hold down the worker and reward the CEO – in fact, as we have all witnessed in the last year – the “disease” is so severe, that the CEO’s are rewarded with multi-million dollar bonuses as their corporations are going into bankruptcy or government bailout.

If you can’t identify with what I’m saying here, please log onto the net and find Olberman’s list of the wrongdoing of this administration. If you’re a republican, look at the list and then tell me how we are justified in just looking the other way. I believe that Obama is totally misreading the sentiment of the people who you would call his “base.” If he does not allow an investigation to proceed he is making a huge gamble on his own right. He is facing the most trying circumstances any President has faced since FDR and maybe ever. This problem may be in its infancy. I don’t think the American people understand the possibilities here as things continue to spiral downward. When I watch the financial “news” on TV I’m struck by the Wall Street commentators who seem to be grasping to understand where the bottom is so that they can pounce on the situation, therefore making huge profits. It appears to me that many of them look at what is happening as opportunity – which tells me that we possibly have a lot further to go in the downward direction before all the greed and profiteering is “squeezed” out of the system. Their mindset doesn’t appear to have changed much – to me it looks as if they are waiting to resume business as usual. I don’t believe these are “usual” circumstances and the direction that will pull us out of the malaise we are in will be totally different from what we have gotten so used to (in fact I hope it is – I’m really hoping for a return to the time where you have to work your way to prosperity – and not gamble your way there by making obscene profits on Wall Street).

My cautionary advice to Barrack Obama: if you let Bush and company walk without even an investigation into their lawbreaking you are risking being a one-term president. Sure, you have a 70+% approval rating as you are making the transition to power, but that can change quickly. And, while you’re cozying up to the “right” you had better not lose the connection with the voters who got you into office. Many of us voted for you because we felt you had the courage to stand strong against this wave of corruption. We are expecting an absolutely “clean” administration with no “enabling” of members of your administration who step over the line. Along these lines, as I have mentioned before – while I agree the solution to the economic woes left by 30+ years of supply side economics is a “bottom up” approach, there can be no doubt that the solution to the crisis of leadership, the destruction of our moral authority in the world, the healing of the very fabric of this great nation MUST come from the top down. As a school teacher I believe I have become very good at decifering lies – many sixth graders are very good at lying already – and I can say this without a doubt, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, Condoleeza Rice, these people have told so many lies that they actually believe their own lies. All the negative press in the world will not effect these people at all, if let to walk away they will just feel empowered. In face to face confrontations they will not admit that they have done anything wrong. In their eyes they have been successful. Without prosecution we will be facing their propaganda machine in full force within a couple of years at the most and “the beat will go on.” This is a moral crisis that can only be resolved by the Attorney General of the United States!

I’m really trying to get past this, but my hope is that anyone reading this blog will write to Obama and encourage him to do the right thing. I’m grieved by what is going on in Gaza and want to write about that, but I just feel this is very important and Obama must address this right from the beginning of his administration or it will be too late. A couple of GW Bush’s blunders, which aren’t mentioned much, have led to what is going on in Gaza right now. I realize this is a very complicated situation, but according to Bruce Reidel (former CIA agent and National Security advisor to three presidents) in “The Search for Al Qaeda” GW Bush disbanded the Israel/Palestinian peace process within hours of his inauguration in 2001 and didn’t realize his mistake for 6 years – which was too late. This crisis and the fact that Osama bin Laden is free and still operating is worth a series of posts in itself and I hope to get to that point soon.