The first three weeks of the Obama administration have not gone very smoothly, especially when it comes to the all-too-many failures to adequately vet several of the Obama nominees for high level positions in his administration.
Just as Mr. Bush promised in 2000 to “restore honor and dignity to the White House,” President Obama pledged to bring ethics back to Washington.
A headline in this morning’s “The Hill” really disturbed me.
The headline, “Dems’ ethical troubles reminiscent of GOPers’,” was followed by the lead:
Despite President Obama’s repeated pledge to usher in a new, more ethical climate in Washington, House Democrats’ ethical troubles have begun to resemble those the GOP had when it occupied the majority just three years ago.
The piece then goes on to list several “ethics questions” facing Democrats and the Democratic leadership in Congress.
It gives me no consolation that “Democrats’ ethical troubles have begun to resemble those the GOP had…”
I don’t care if “everybody” can point ad nauseam to examples of ethical failures and corruption during the Bush administration.
I did not help elect Mr. Bush, but I did help elect and placed my faith and hopes in Barack Obama, his administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress.
I do expect elections to have consequences, and I do expect our new President and Congress to clean up their act.
Not because, as The Hill says, “[Democrats] rose to power, at least in part, by vowing to right the ethical wrongs of the past,”—such promises have become virtually perfunctory.
But because I sincerely feel that, with Obama at the lead, this may truly be the last chance for us as a nation to finally get it right.
Please don’t let us down, Mr. President.
