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Today I wish to raise a glass and offer a toast and salutations to staffers of all politicans. You who toil in the shadows of your bosses and yet are thrust into the light of blame when everything goes wrong. Take President Obama’s recent Oval Office speech on Iraq for example. If the speech was vapid and said nothing, it was probably because Obama didn’t have much to say. But to a columnist like the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen, it had to be because some White House staffer screwed up and must be fired. Indeed staff shake-ups are a Washingtonian’s favorite way to assign blame to someone else. After all, it can’t possibly the politican or cabinet member’s fault? It has to be the staff.
Oh, but just think how the whole of the Beltway would completly shutdown if all these incompetents suddenly disapperared and left those “in charge” to fend for themselves? Then we could really see who would sink or swim (call it Survivor: Potomac Island). Alas, until that happens, the lowly staffer will have to remain, if nothing else, to be the scapegoat and the target of ire. What, and you thought it was all just sharpening pencils and getting coffee?
And that’s why I say here’s to you all gophers of government: You may be dumped on now, but if you just hold on, someday you can be the one doing the dumping. And you too will need a flunky to blame all those missed votes or garbled speeches or poorly written out checks on and yell at if need be. Just wait your turn.
Steve Ryker on 23 Sep 2010 at 7:51 am #
I’m afraid this is the poorest Post I’ve ever read on CHT (with the exception of, quite frankly, my own; except, of course, they were, to be “technically correct,” Responses not Posts – but perhaps I quibble). It may indeed be “just me,” but I fear this Post is quite literally “much ado about a NOTHING.”
To begin with, it is an attempt to “make something out of nothing,” i.e. the “fate” of those poor staffers!! As human beings, of course, they matter every bit as much as any others. BUT THAT IS NOT THE ISUE HERE. Their importance as human beings is neither the issue nor the question-at-hand.
What IS the issue, is a “he said – she said” MOCK issue type-of-thing, that IS, AND SHOULD BE, of little or no importance to Mr. or MIZZZ Joe/Jane Citizen. We can “go around and ’round the Circle” on this kind of thing, and NEVER GET ANYWHERE. “Mmmm, productive that . . . good use of my time.”
And even if we did or could, WHAT WOULD IT MEAN?? To Average Citizen again, NOTHING. What would WE do about it?? Vote’em out!! Ooops – No . . . Take’em to Court!! No – no legal grounds . . . Or . . . DO NOTHING. It is literally an “in-house” problem, and up to the people involved to deal with. WE CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT – unless Buffoon Patroon wants to start a “Civil Rights Movement” FOR THOSE POOR, OPPRESSED, ABUSED POLITICAL STAFFERS – POOR THINGS!! “Yeah – that’s the thing to do!! C’mon – SIGN UP!!”
I hope I have made my point – THE POST IS POINTLESS.
“WAIT!! WHAT ABOUT ‘THE INJUSTICE’ COMMITTED BY THE LIKES OF RICHARD COHEN – FALSELY ACCUSING THE HELPLESS AND INNOCENT, AND WORST OF ALL, COMMITTING THE EQUIVALENT OF A ‘CRIME’ BY LETTING THE TRULY GUILTY OFF THE HOOK??
I’ll be blunt – I truly believe most people ‘see’ garbage like Cohen’s (and hopefully Cohen ITself) FOR THE POLITICAL TRASH THAT IT IN FACT IS. Indeed, I believe it actually works FOR US, those who “oppose” B.O. & Co., because “it smells” of the putrid, radically-biased “excuse-making” that indeed it is – and that DISGUSTS the overwhelming majority of Americans. (I better be careful here – if I use the word “hate” to express the thoughts and feelings that so many of us have and are feeling about these ‘things,’ B.P.’ll try to get “the other Editors” to keep me/us OFF the Site – Jawohl!! Good little ‘Freedom Loving’ Amerikanischer!! Jawohl!)
There is at least ONE implicit ‘point’ to the “pointless” – they take so much time and effort TO SHOW THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE.
Thanks again, B.P.