Scandals Serve to Polarize

Since retirement, my morning routine consist of pouring a cup of coffee and turing on the TV to watch the news.  I had hardly awaken this morning when I heard Nancy Pelosi accuse Republicans of attacking Attorney General Eric Holder for preventing voter suppression.  With my mouth hanging open I tried to connect the dots.  How could Eric Holder’s contempt of Congress have anything to do voter suppression?  I was about to declare this Pelosi craziness, when I realized it was actually pretty crafty.    

Following the Bush-Gore debacle in Florida, states have been cleaning up their election systems.  State legislatures have passed laws that have been very effective in eliminating voter fraud.  In my home state of Washington, Attorney General Rob McKenna has done a traffic job of getting rid of corruption and restoring confidence in the system.  

Attorney General Holder, on the other hand, has been fighting to overturn many of these laws for political purposes.  Why?  Very simply, voter fraud benefits Democrats more that Republicans.  Voting in the U.S. is a privilege reserved for the citizens of this country - not Chinese tourist or illegal Mexicans. 

Pelosi doesn’t see it that way.  In a way, she was right when she said Republicans are trying suppressing the votes.  They do.  They suppress illegal votes.  Unfortunately, Pelosi would rather have us believe this is all some dark mysterious plot.  All that stuff about lying before a congressional committee, withholding evidence, and being in contempt of congress - that’s nothing.  According to her, this is really all about punishing poor little Eric for doing his job. 

While none of this helps Obama, I maintain it doesn’t hurt him either.  It only serves two purposes, 1. It eclipses Romney.  Instead of hearing his message on how we are going to turn the economy around, we’re focused instead on the scandal.  2.  It makes a mockery of our government.  We need leadership we can trust, but all we get is mud wrestlers   No wonder America disrespects Congress.  

Scandals serve to polarize, they don’t persuade.  They provide division instead of vision.  A congress caught up in squabbling isn’t going to give us solutions for the problems we care about most.  If this flap continues through the summer, Obama will be re-elected narrowly in November.