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What Obama Can Do
 So
Barack Obama has Big
Momma on the canvas. When it comes to fundraising, he has essentially
beaten La Hillary at her own game, nearly matching her $26 million but with
far more  donors.
And since we’re all a wee bit tired of her, he’s the
sentimental favorite. It’s the young underdog versus the aging
Überfrau.
When you’re the brawny Goliath, you can’t play for a
tie. A draw with skinny little David can’t be spun as a “moral
victory.” If the bookies are picking you to squash him like a bug,
you’d better not let him embarrass you.
Obama has already beaten the point spread. This can only sap the
Clinton team’s morale and give prospective donors grave doubts.
Obama is on his best behavior. He’s running as Bill Cosby, not
Richard Pryor, as if he’s afraid of seeming uppity and would rather be
safely solemn. Too bad. Think of the fun he could have by abandoning strict
propriety and tweaking Hillary a bit:
“Mrs. Clinton, if elected president, would you return at least
some of the White House furniture you and your husband made off
with?”
“Mrs. Clinton, you are known as a feminist leader. What steps
would you as president take to protect female White House interns from
harassment in the workplace?”
“Mrs. Clinton, it has been said that if you win the presidency,
we will have a known sexual predator back in the White House. Care to
comment?”
These are the sort of questions the public would remember long
after her answers, supposing she could answer at all. But such playfulness
just isn’t Obama’s style. In a more serious vein, however, there
is something else he can do, something unexpected that would enhance his
stature.
He
can call on President Bush to resign from office.
![[Breaker quote for What Obama Can Do: A call for honor]](2007breakers/070409.gif) Many
Democrats would like to impeach Bush but don’t dare to try. For one thing, they think
it’s too late, and they have a point. Bush has less than two years to
go, and impeachment is now a long, slow process, almost as protracted as a
presidential race.
This is regrettable; it should be no harder than overriding a veto
— a short debate and a vote, followed by summary dismissal, if
warranted. In essence, it’s the firing of a servant, a public servant,
for abuse of his office, compounded, in this case, by gross incompetence.
But he could still have his pension and other lavish perks usually denied to a
disgruntled former employee of the U.S. Government.
In
other societies, honor has imposed much sterner penalties on disgraced
rulers: suicide, beheading, hara-kiri. Obama wouldn’t be asking Bush to
fall on his sword; he’d merely be urging him to behave honorably for
the sake of the country. Is a single act of honor too great a sacrifice to
demand of a man who has sent so many others to die?
Nor could Obama be easily accused of partisan motives. At this point
Bush has become a burden to the Republicans and an asset to the
Democrats. If he stepped down, it would help his own party more than their
opponents. And most patriots would be relieved.
Last fall’s elections amounted to a national no-confidence
vote on this president. If he were a prime minister under a parliamentary
system, he would already be gone.
We can assume that Bush, being Bush, would not resign. In
today’s politics, the very idea of honor is, as they say, outside the
box. But by asking for his resignation in the name of honor, Obama would set
a new standard for politics, in the sense that everything old is new again.
Such a gesture would have deep resonance and inspire serious
discussion. Bush could hardly ignore it. And it would earn Obama great
respect. Honest Republicans might join him, agreeing that Bush’s
presidency can no longer be salvaged.
The shadow of dishonor would fall across the remainder of
Bush’s term. As it should.
But the decks would be cleared for a new Republican presidential
candidate in 2008, one who had kept his distance from Bush. The big loser
would be John McCain, who not only supports the Iraq war but, as 60
Minutes has just shown, lies about it even more brazenly and
preposterously than Bush does.
Obama has the chance to win the gratitude even of Americans who
have given up on voting.
Joseph Sobran |
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| Copyright © 2007 by the
Griffin Internet Syndicate, a division of Griffin Communications This column may not be reprinted in print or Internet publications without express permission of Griffin Internet Syndicate 
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