The Problem with Deception

According to the Associated Press, Newt Gingrich said Sunday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should consider resigning because his credibility has been destroyed over the mishandled firing of U.S. attorneys. I agree with Mr. Gingrich.

Don't misunderstand me, I support the President's--and thus the AG's--right to do what he did. The President of the United States has the sole constitutional authority to fire US Attorneys at will. Previous Presidents have done that very same thing with impunity. President Bush can make the decision that he did, but the better way for the AG to handle the situation when asked about the firings by the press or by members of Congress is to say something close to this:

The President of the United States can hire and fire United States
Attorneys at any time for any reason as a matter of course. That is a
time-honored and precedent-honored tradition. Sometimes the firings
are for performance reasons, sometimes for personal reasons, and sometimes for
political reasons. It is not requisite for either the President or for me
to specify which category each of the fired attorneys fall into. In fact,
it would be very unfortunate for those who were fired for dissatisfaction over their performance if we did so. Therefore, since it is neither necessary nor
productive for us to expound upon each firing--we won't. In short, the
President decided--with my input--that for whatever reason it was time to make a
change in several US Attorney positions. I implemented the President's
decision.

Members of the press and of Congress have the right to inquire into this
matter, but it is way past time for members of both parties to stop trying to
make political hay out of normal actions on the part of their political
adversaries. Nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing improper, has been
done in this case. Thank you.

The above statement might appear to be a little imperial, but I would chalk it up to simply "answer(ing) a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own estimation." While I often (certainly not always, but often still) support the administration in it's positions and actions, I fear that it has already lost its moral authority and credibility in the eyes of the average American.

One of the reasons that this has happened is that instead of giving honest and plainspoken answers to queries, the administration has chosen to engage in obfusction, or in some cases, outright deception. That does not mean that the members of the administration are evil, as the DNC would have you believe. It does mean, however, that in each and every one of those situations the administration has failed to provide the leadership and example of integrity that it should have. In those instances, the administration failed to live up to its "Charge to Keep."

But, the administration's time isn't over. It isn't too late to begin leading as it should.