Remember the years of media flak President George W. Bush received for his alleged use for political gain of first the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and then the related Afghanistan and Iraq Wars?
Will the press be as vociferous now? Incoming Obama Administration Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, speaking on Wednesday on and to the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, stated outright his desire to make political hay with the ongoing travails of the U.S. and global economy:
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Wonder why President-elect Obama resigned from the Senate so early (while Vice President-elect Joe Biden remains an active member) and is hanging back, not wading into the debate over bailouts etc, and naming candidates for nearly every Cabinet post save Treasury (the man or woman who will have $350 billion to dispense when he/she walks through the door)?
Based upon what Emanuel is saying, the conclusion one might draw is that the Obama team wants the uncertainty this foments to fester and grow, thereby increasing the gravity of the crisis upon which the Administration then intends to capitalize.
Chris Matthews and others in the media dreaming of an early coronation, I mean Inauguration, are perhaps missing an important Obama Administration point. The longer the crisis lingers, the more our economy tanks, the better it is for them from their perspective when they finally do take the reins.
All in the best interest of our nation, of course. (?!?)
Where oh where has the press's righteous indignation at the use of national hardship for crass political gain gone? That apparently has departed early, so as to make way for the Obama Adminstration they can't wait to see get started.
