He had a chance to back up his words with action and demonstrate that Congress still has relevance, but he blew it. I think many of our well-meaning Washington actors do not understand how this sport is played. They think they can say anything or do anything and get away with it. Unfortunately for them, unlike a real sport, there is no coach who decides who to bench and who to field, and there are no last minute comebacks. In this sport, if your fans decide that you are not playing up to snuff they can vote you off the team. Furthermore, politicians words and actions shape their fans' opinions of them. It seems to me that the Beltway crowd views the media and punditry as their coach, which could not be further from reality."The time is up. The time is up," Leahy announced yesterday. "We've waited long enough."
But what would Leahy do about it? The first questioner riddled Batman with this.
"The full Judiciary Committee will have to sit down and determine whether to seek contempt from the full Senate," said the noncommittal action hero.
Does that mean he would seek a contempt-of-Congress citation? "What I want to do is get the response to these things," Leahy demurred.
Rebecca Carr of Cox News tried again to pin him down, but Leahy continued to escape. "What we have to find out is what happened here," he answered.
How about withholding money from the administration? "Let's take it step by step," he proposed.
Holy incrementalism, Batman!
Maybe politics really is a spectator sport after all - but one in which the spectators actually count for something.
No comments:
Post a Comment