Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson dropped a bomb yesterday. He has decided that the plan to invest three quarters of a trillion dollars to prop up the financial system will be changed. He announced the change without any apparent consultation with the Congress. And, our Congress reacted with surprise...
Funds from the $700-billion program will not be used to buy troubled mortgage securities, but efforts to revive the credit markets will continue. The Bush administration dropped the centerpiece of its $700-billion financial rescue plan Wednesday, reflecting the remarkable extent to which senior government officials have been flying by the seat of their pants.
And Jane Harmon, (D-CA) is the new public face of surprised and angry. She has been all over the media, telling anyone who will listen that she is surprised and angry.
Ms. Harman is simply the most visible spokes person for a Congress that has been bamboozled, yet again, by the Bush Administration.
How many times will this group of people we elect to represent us in the complex interactions that comprise governing, find themselves "surprised and angry" when they are blindsided, once again, by the experts and their own lack of knowledge? How many times will they allow themselves to be frightened and terrified by the con men that create a tissue of lies, extracting carte blanch approvals and permissions from these ignorant and ill informed people? How many Wolfowitz's, and Abbington's, and Paulson's will be allowed to parade before the committees and investigative bodies, selling snake oil, before they wise up?
The Iraq War.
The FISA coverup.
Renditions.
Torture.
Bail outs
In every case, a carefully executed plan to mislead and confuse the Congress was presented. a plan that was devised to scare the crap out of those Congressional scions on the inside who heard the details.
In every case, lies and deliberate misdirections were brought to the table.
In every case, once permission was extracted from the Congress, releasing money and authority to address some horror that only the Administration insiders claimed to really understand, the rules changed. The application of that authority, given with no oversight, and no apparent understanding of the consequences of handing a blank check to anyone who can scare the pants off the Members, was changed, "evolved", or disappeared behind the walls of National Security.
So. My question. How many times must we sit quietly by while the people who claim the authority to legislate claim that they are "surprised and angry" again? How many times must we accept that they are operating in our best interest while people die, money disappears down the rat hole, and the country's reputation continues off that cliff?
I do not know the wisdom of Paulson's decision. I do not have enough information to judge if this mid-course correction is a good, or bad decision.
I do know that finding Congress, once again, "surprised and angry" at the results of their failure to apply the lessons of the past in dealing with the people with whom George Bush has appointed, is beyond frustration. How many times do they get to be made fools of before we stand up and say, "Enough!".