Eric Holder is too good for America. He knows best — he said so himself! — yet this nation of fools and bigots, aided and abetted by a cowardly Congress, won’t heed his word.
Such, in essence, is the graceless view of the attorney general of the United States. Because the public overwhelmingly opposed his harebrained idea of giving a civilian trial to the 9/11 plotters, and because even a Democratic-led Congress responded by blocking any money for a trial, Holder is forced to hold his nose and assign the case to a military tribunal.
At Guantanamo Bay prison, no less, a creation of the stupidly wicked — or wickedly stupid — George W. Bush. Oh, the horrors of democracy in a blighted land with blinkered people.
Although Holder belatedly made the only choice he had, America’s deliverance from his arrogance will not be complete until he finds employment elsewhere. Hopefully, it will be in a nation that makes him proud. This one clearly doesn’t.
Meanwhile, we, the dumb people, should appreciate the larger meaning of his Monday performance. Holder’s crass refusal to embrace public will is not his flaw alone. It is sadly typical of the Obama administration.
No matter the topic — war, peace, energy, health, taxes, justice — their virtue is self-evident to all intelligent people, which is to say anybody who agrees with them. Anybody who disagrees is guilty of playing politics or worse.
Remember how President Obama called Republicans “hostage takers” because they wouldn’t agree to his tax hikes last December? Even yesterday, he accused Republicans of a “my way or the highway” approach to the budget because they won’t yield to him.
It is impossible to watch him on such occasions without wondering whether he is totally cynical or completely clueless about why he has failed to unite the country. Then again, he’s an expert on “my way or the highway.”
When Democrats had all the power, they rammed through law after law on mostly straight, party-line votes. The GOP was attacked mercilessly as the “party of no” by the White House and the liberal media echo chamber, even though it didn’t have the votes to stop the runaway train of spending and borrowing.
The chorus was loudest on the war on terror. On Day 3, Obama signed the order closing Gitmo, part of his plan to redeem America from its sordid ways. He would open the gates and repair Bush’s relationship with the Arab world.
The 9/11 trial in civilian court — in the shadow of Ground Zero — was a key part of the vision. It would prove that America was under new and improved management and that our system could provide full constitutional rights to the very people who sought to destroy it. Our nation, after a few apologies for history, would be beloved, and peace would break out everywhere.
Instead, we are now engaged in a third war in a Muslim nation, and that doesn’t count Pakistan. This one was launched over the objections of most military brass, without public notice or real consultation with Congress, in a country that is not a vital national interest, even as vital countries explode with riots and talk of al Qaeda expansion. The media that hated Bush’s pre-emptive war loves Obama’s “humanitarian” bombs and missiles.
Against that unsettling backdrop, it counts as good news that the 9/11 trial will be held in a military court. And even better that it will take place in Gitmo, from which no terrorist has ever escaped.
Not incidentally, none of the good news comes because of Eric Holder and Barack Obama. It comes despite them.
Cuomo is lying down with dogs
A story attributed to George Bernard Shaw goes like this: Sitting next to a supposedly reputable woman at a dinner, he asked if she would sleep with him for a million pounds. After she coyly smiled, he asked if she would do it for 10 pounds.
She was insulted and asked indignantly, “What do you think I am?”
To which Shaw replied. “We’ve already established what you are, ma’am. Now we’re just haggling over the price.”
Shaw’s little gem reminds me of the New York state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo, who are haggling over the price of ethics reform.
Cuomo wants the leaders of both parties to agree to a series of sharp changes, including improved disclosure of outside income and the names of clients for lawmakers who are lawyers.
If they don’t agree, Cuomo threatens to appoint a commission with subpoena power to investigate them. Even in Albany, where honest government is an oxymoron, this is a strange way to go about reform, not least because the haggling is happening in secret. The budget was also resolved in secret, a sign that Cuomo is comfortable using discredited ways to achieve his laudable goals.
His offer/ultimatum is another case in point, with Cuomo presumably prepared to praise the Legislature if it agrees to his changes. If it doesn’t, he will brand the leaders as corrupt and turn the probers loose.
But they are corrupt, and Cuomo’s silence wouldn’t change who they are. It would only show he is willing to patronize them if they agree to his price. Better to stop the haggling and get on with the investigation.
CBS basketbawl
CBS broadcasters trashed the men’s college basketball champi onship as one of the worst title games ever played. Perhaps so, but it was better than the telecast. CBS mined every break, including foul shots, to squeeze in an ad or promotion. The nonstop selling took cheesy to a new level.
‘SINGLE’ BIGGEST KID WOE
The Post reported the other day on a study that compares mental and physical health by county and state. Most telling was the link between single-parent households and childhood poverty in the five boroughs.
In The Bronx, single-parent households make up an astonishing 63 percent of families, and 39 percent of Bronx children live in poverty. On the other end, 26 percent of Staten Island’s families are headed by a single parent, and 15 percent of the borough’s children are below poverty standards.
The linkage holds in Brooklyn (41/30) and Queens (32/17). The gap was largest in Manhattan (44/23), with greater wealth likely blunting the impact of single-parent households on childhood poverty.
Overall, the stats reveal a public-health crisis of today and tomorrow because too many poor children with only one parent involved never catch up. Yet Mayor Bloomberg’s nanny squads duck the topic of out-of-wedlock birth and its impact on children. They’d rather focus on whether New Yorkers eat french fries instead of whether parents are condemning their children to a stunted future.
Too late to see the light
It matters that Richard Goldstone is retracting his most serious charge against Israel. The South African judge, appointed by the United Nations to investigate Israel’s 2008 war with Hamas, says that if he knew then what he knows now, he would not have charged Israel with targeting civilians. OK, but where does Israel go to get its reputation back? Certainly not the UN.