We are living in what I hope are the latter days of the Watergate Era.
I’m old enough to remember Watergate. The un-making of President Nixon, before our very eyes, informed Americans in a deep and profound way. It led, in part, to the election of Jimmy Carter, often referred to as one of the least effectual presidents. And the Carter presidency led to Ronald Reagan.
While living under Watergate’s dark shadow, not all of us took away the same lesson.
We outsiders learned, once again, that power corrupts.
Insiders, on the other hand, learned something different: never willingly play a part in your side’s unmasking and un-making.
We tend to forget, what with the economic rebound and end of the Cold War, that the Reagan Administration had significant scandals. At the time, Reagan was dubbed the “Teflon President,” because Reagan & Co. figured out how to react: shrug; stall; deny, deny, deny. For this reason, scandal flowed off him, not sticking, as water off a well-oiled duck’s back.
Reagan and the Republicans did not allow what Republicans had allowed in Nixon’s day: there was no turning on one’s own, no (or few) breaking of ranks.
Then, President Bill Clinton took the effrontery of denial and stonewalling to new heights. With great help from fellow Democrats.
And so it goes, even to the present day, with Hillary Clinton carrying on her husband’s tradition. She, the first candidate to run for the presidency while under official investigation by the FBI, just received the current president’s endorsement.
The back-room deal has been made, perhaps? Obama will not allow Hillary to be prosecuted. It would tarnish his legacy.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
7 replies on “This Too Shall Pass”
Perhaps??? Is there any doubt? I can just see her first task — holding a sale on Ebay for all the country’s resources and funneling the proceeds to the Clinto Slush Fund. She already has that pattern down.
Nixon’s great “crime” was essentially loyalty to his subordinates. It forced his removal from office.
It is relatively minor compared with the decades of corruption, scandals, and criminal activity by the individual who is currently the Democrat candidate for the Presidency.
Hello Paul. I hope you’ll get a chance to read the book I gave you, Conspiracy in Philadelphia by Gary North. It explains why things such as those you rightly lament about in today’s post have gotten so far out of hand. North shows with a more than adequate amount of empiricism that what we see all around politically, economically and spiritually today was inevitable from the start and just a matter of time. Thanks. Dick Jones
“Obama will not allow Hillary to be prosecuted. It would tarnish his legacy.”
Is it possible to tarnish something that is already blackened?
Whether or not Hillary is prosecuted will make little difference for Barack Obama’s legacy. He’s tarnished it all by himself. I’d like to believe that this too shall pass, but I fear we are in a permanent downward slide. Nothing good lasts forever. This once-great experiment in human freedom is no exception.
I am so sorry I have to agree with you. As a naturalized citizen, pure red, white and blue, I see the end of the America so many behind the Iron Curtain looked to. It is tragic – the devil has won.
Maybe we are all doomed. But I’m still going to give the statists my best shots, a nice knuckle sandwich to the face as many times as possible, till my very last breath.