October 19, 2007--Outrage Overload

The psychology of inaction is a fascinating subject. It has numerous sources. One of which is feeling powerless—if I can’t make something happen, why even bother. Another, not unrelated, is being so overloaded with competing priorities that, in effect, one’s circuits get blown. And if you add to that overload the sense that each separate thing on your list of items clamoring for attention in itself is overwhelming, the compounding effect leads to paralysis and frustration. This latter example is just what we are now seeing in our political and governmental arenas. It is why President Bush’s approval rating has plummeted to about 25 percent and Congress’ is even lower, hovering near 10 percent. Forgetting the president for a moment, this means that the Democratic-controlled Congress we elected less than a year ago (they took over just in January) to “bring about change” is frustrating and maddening even those of us who voted for them. How else to explain the 10 percent? And we’re being driven crazy by their inaction not because they can’t muster 60 votes in the Senate—it’s more because since they’re not capable of dealing effectively with the big issues, they’ve turned to their attention to lesser matters; and as a result, since they can’t get these done either, they find themselves twisted into knots over whether or not to pass, say, a resolution condemning the genocide that the Turks perpetrated against the Armenians nearly 100 years ago. Perhaps they feel because they can’t do anything about the war in Iraq they at least can do something to pander to the Armenians. Of course, by thinking about doing this, they have so enraged our “allies” the Turks who let us use their country as a staging ground for our war in Iraq, that out of fear that the Turks will tell us to go home, our congressional leaders took the resolution off the calendar. Is it just that the congressional leadership is so inept that they can’t figure out how to be more effective? I’m sure that is contributing to the self-afflicted stalemate. And of course without a Dick Armey-like tyrant running things in the House, it’s hard to keep members in line and voting in unison. But the profound inaction may have a deeper source. During the past six years, on almost a daily basis, we have seen grievous examples of deception, incompetence, hypocrisy, corruption, and unconstitutional behavior. Any one of these would have in the past been enough to launch court battles, congressional hearings, indictments, investigations, the appointment of special prosecutors, and even articles of impeachment. Which is worse, whatever the Clintons did or didn’t do in Whitewater (remember that?), the White House Travel Office, or even Monica Lewinsky (her we remember) or . . . See list below: Weapons of mass destruction Katrina Abu Ghraib Warrantless wiretapping Congressmen Foley, Cunningham, and Dick Armey And of course Larry Craig Jessica Lynch Jack Abramoff Scooter Libby Valerie Plame Blackwater Halliburton Enron Toxic air at Ground Zero Osama Bin Laden Mission Accomplished Slam Dunk Torture Other _____ ? About torture. This is a very current example of inaction bordering on paralysis. The Senate Judiciary Committee is at this moment questioning Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, who is supposed to be reasonably independent and not likely to be a lap dog for the Bush administration. On the other hand, yesterday, he testified that eavesdropping without warrants and using “enhanced” interrogation techniques such as waterboarding that might strictly speaking be unconstitutional (carried out in Syria no less!) are allowable because of the president’s powers as commander in chief. (See NY Times article linked below.) The committee got him to say this in public and went home last night feeling good about themselves. In spite of this, what’s your estimate about how many senators will vote against his confirmation? How many fingers do you have? That should be more than enough.