To Curl Your Hair

The blogs have been white hot since the first reports appeared last night that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan had released his memoir, What Happened.

McClellan’s book is just another in a series that will appear in greater and greater numbers as the chickens and the rats abandon ship to save what’s left of their professional reputations. Most informed observers – witnessing the malfeasance and misfeasance of the Bush-Cheney administration – knew this day was coming.

More books will follow. And like this one, the honesty of those who seek to preserve some semblance of personal integrity will curl your hair. Republicans will swear at their former colleagues, now Benedict Arnolds of the first order who will never see inside the front gate of the White House again. Democrats will delight in seeing the mighty fall but they should take no delight in seeing the truth come out. There is nothing to smile about as we watch the last days of this administration unfold – not even the truth. The damage done is too deep and the national pain too great to bring any pleasure to Democratic partisans.

There will be other books. McClellan’s is just the tip of the iceberg. I have a collection already that starts with The Price of Loyalty, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil’s inside look at a mismanaged cabal of mostly political hacks who did not – and do not – understand the difference between campaigning and governing.

But the American people have moved on, and that is the good news. The enormous crowds that gather when Barack Obama speaks are all the proof one needs to see that a new day awaits our nation. This is a strong republic and there is hope for a better day ahead. The record breaking turnout in the primaries is more evidence of that belief that a better day lies ahead. In November the people will share their conviction with millions of fellow citizens as they begin to prepare for that better day on January 20, 2009.