Our president prefers to paint a picture of himself as a man who is distanced from the slings and arrows of political and ideological mind games. This is the man who has said that he doesn't read any newspapers - which is worrisome - and that he looks to a higher power for guidance - which is more so.
Religious tolerance notwithstanding, this man is the leader of our country. Everyone would be a lot more worried if he said he took his guidance from his imaginary friend. Regardless, he obviously aims to appear above all the squabbling going on around him, especially regarding classified information and the leaking of same.
Not surprisingly, he isn't above it at all.
According to an April 17 Newsweek story posted on its Web site, President George W. Bush has become embroiled in the information-leaking game. Specifically, Lewis Libby has told a grand jury that Bush authorized him to leak information from an intelligence document on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Not surprising, since Bush used to be the loyalty enforcer in his father's administration - a position title that brings up shades of 1984.
What was his purpose? To shoot back at former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was speaking out against the claims that Iraq had been trying to buy uranium in Niger.
The concern here, for the president, is clearly what will happen to his integrity. For someone in his position, showing this kind of massive hypocrisy could further tumble his already struggling ratings. Even now, the White House is working hard to find a way to remove or distance Bush from the actual leak decisions. This itself could lead to problems between the president and vice president Dick Cheney, if the word seemed to come from him.
However, the actions of the most powerful man in this country are not illegal. The president has not done anything wrong, under the law. What the administration is doing is playing a snide and vengeful game of information control - "I know something you don't know" on a grand scale - for the purpose of essentially messing with reporters or thumbing their noses at detractors.
This is the government - including the president - of the United States.
This is the one man who has the ability to declassify secrets, and he's treating them as ammunition to use against people who don't like his administration. The people you trust with your life, your freedom and your safety - because they have made you trust them with those things - are playing a giant game of Nerf Tag with sensitive information. That's like walking into church and seeing Father Bill drunk on the communion wine - which is unsavory, but ultimately acceptable.
What burns the most out of this whole situation is that the man lied. He outright lied and did so with the holier-than-thou righteousness adopted by so many people in power - especially those who take their directions from a higher power.
Apparently, said higher power has no problems at all with lying, so what else is acceptable? How far can the administration go? How much lying, cheating and stealing is covered under the dubious moral and spiritual governing style of the most powerful man in America?
Hold tight, United States. We might just find out.
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