Late to the gate on this, I know, but the US Senate, you may have heard, approved four star Air Force General Michael Hayden to the post of CIA director. When his nomination first went up there were all the usual protests from all the usual voices, saying that he was, well: Too military. Or not civilian enough. And what about those phone records? The vote? 78-15.
Sic transit hysteria.
It’s become this kind of strange, reflexive kabuki dance, up there on Capitol Hill. The prez notes that it’s a bright and sunny morning and legions of opponents cry out, “Balderdash! No such thing. Instead it is a dark and stormy night, made worse by this administration’s trampling of our fundamental rights under the Constitution. There. Somewhere.”
You get the sense that if W could raise Mother Teresa from the dead and nominate her as deputy assistant secretary to the local school board, the dyspeptic legions of the perpetually aggrieved would bestir themselves to shout a chorus of Hard Questions about who he thought he was, raising saints from the dead, and whether the nuns she’d led at that convent in Calcutta were in fact legal immigrants, or whether their in-kind payments were on the books. Sheesh.
As you’d expect of anyone who’d spent a lifetime briefing important people about life or death decisions, Hayden knocked his confirmation hearings out of the park. You don’t get to be a four star general – especially not in the Air Force, most especially not as an intel guy – by being a putz.
Would that the same were true about being a US Senator.
It would appear as if any administration during its last (lame duck)year becomes a target of opportunity for anyone from Jay Leno to the elected members of the loyal opposition. The nature and validity of the attacks are largely dependent on the putz-quotient of the attacker.
SUGGESTION: You’ve seen the “fun-meter” patch worn on flightsuits on certain occasions of celebration? Why not issue each senator a “putz-meter” to be worn when the affairs of state are discussed?
It seems to me that it would have been better if Hayden had retired to accept the post. He’s pretty much topped out in the Air Force, and it would have deflected some of the criticism of his nomination. I know there is precedent for a uniformed officer serving as the CIA director but not recent.
Seems a mixed message to me, politicians lecturing about civilian control of the military on one hand and then having a uniformed officer holds a major civilian position.
I get where you’re going with it, but to give Hayden credit where credit is due, he did offer to retire and serve in mufti if that was what the CIA culture required. It takes a while, hard work and a lot of luck to get four stars – I can understand why he’d want to hold on to them. And think of the stink of a four star retirement on top of whatever type of SES pay (or however they pay cabinet level officers) he’d be getting.
Not to mention the fact that to retire as a four star would require Senate approval – any one of whom with an axe to grind in a political year could make lifelong trouble for him. Better all the way around probably to let the momentary passions fade a bit.
Absolutely LOVE the last sentence!