October 6, 2004 by lonbud

The Man Behind The Curtain

The B team is never as entertaining as the A team, is it?

Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards spent 90 minutes last night defending the top half of their respective tickets, sprinkling little bits of personal acrimony over what was largely, for my taste, a rather stale debate.

How much “He said, She said” are we supposed to put up with, anyway?

Credit must be given to Mr. Cheney, who has been about his dark quest to bring an unruly world to heel for more than 30 years. His experience in world affairs and his understanding of the levers of power, who pulls them and how they operate, was on full view. It is no wonder many believe he is the de facto President of the United States.

Mr. Edwards, for his part, looked and sounded every bit the young and less experienced upstart. He turned red and stumbled over thoughts and words trying to parry deft jabs at a record of inconsistent voting in the senate, and a public image of blowing where the polled wind blows.

On the other hand, he is no Dan Quayle.

He managed to highlight the Bush administration’s glaring inadequacies in prosecuting the venture in Iraq, its woeful stewardship of an unprecedented transfer of public wealth to wealthy private hands, complimenting an economy featuring nearly 2 million fewer jobs, lower wages in those remaining, higher prices for everything required of life in an “ownership” society, and a currency that has lost over a quarter of its buying power.

He managed to point out that several million additional people have slid into poverty during this Bush administration, but he didn’t take the opportunity to explain why the Leave No Child Behind legislation is a farce, why the “middle class tax cut” is spit in the ocean, or how the recently passed Medicare legislation is going to raise the health care costs of its beneficiaries

Mr. Cheney made the most revealing comment, however.

In it lies much of what one needs to know and understand before casting a Republican vote in November. Defending his administration’s approach in Afghanistan and Iraq against legitimate criticism of its honesty and its efficacy, he said, “look what we did in El Salvador.”

Indeed.

So there it is, America. If you’re for spreading democracy, even if you HAVE to, with death squads funded by illegal sales of arms to a member of the Axis of Evil, with a little CIA pimping of cocaine on the side, this is the Administration for you.

If America was truly confused about the difference between George W. Bush and Albert Gore, Jr. four years ago, the one thing for sure about this year’s election is that the choice is clear. Washington DC will, for many years to come, operate how Washington DC has operated for much of the past 60 years, anyway.

Are we ruthless people? Lawless? Unwilling to hear informed dissent from any quarter? Are we willing to continue sacrificing our sons and daughters to the fantasy that all people of the world can live in peace and harmony and prosperity under democracy if we can just kill all the people who don’t think so?

The would-be Veeps revealed much tonight, though it’s unclear how much America might have seen. Mr. Cheney is very comfortable and pleased with the way he’s managed to affect things. He has no intention of relinquishing his grip on the levers of power.

Mr. Edwards very much wants an opportunity to help steer the course of American influence in a different direction.

Hopefully, it’s up to the voters to choose the coordinates.