The reviews are in, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez did not fare well yesterday. This is hardly surprising, yet the astounding thing about his performance is how abysmal it was even after a much-publicized time of preparation. Consider how much of a train-wreck it might have been had he gone in cold.
For me, it was not so much his almost-constant claims of amnesia when questioned on his role in the despicable politically motivated firings of eight US Attorneys (he could recall the actions of others pretty well; for him, though, not so much). The most telling thing was his attitude. At once petulant and arrogant, whiny and presumptively dismissive, he reminded me of a child caught doing something bad. In an attempt to protect oneself from the results of breaking rules, children very often will adopt such an attitude as a way of protecting themselves from the punishment that is sure to come. It usually fails miserably. In Gonzalez' case, however, he has an indulgent father in President Bush who will no doubt continue to defend this horrid little man who displayed, for all the country to see, how much he is in over his head as head of the Department of Justice.
One of the most egregiously childish acts of his entire performance was his robotic mantra that came down, essentially, to repeating, "I said I was sorry!" Again, like a child caught doing something bad, he must figure that apology is the same thing as penance, and should derail any attempt at punishment. My nine-year-old has already learned that, as I told her recently, "Sorry is not enough." It is only the first step. For Gonzalez, it would be best if he just went away, disappearing in to some obscurity, although wing-nut welfare will no doubt rescue the tatters of this man's reputation, landing him a cushy job somewhere distorting our legal system for his own ends, until the next Republican Administration when, Elliot Abrams-like, he emerges again to do us public disservice.
As with children behaving badly, I just wish all of them would go away. I wish it were January 21, 2009, with Pres. Clinton/Obama/Edwards ensconced in office, with huge Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, and a real accounting for all the terrible crimes of the past years could be done. The children have been left without a babysitter since January of 2001, and the house is a disaster; there are years ahead of us rebuilding what has been so relentlessly attacked by this gang of criminal oafs.
