The tragedy of James Comey is one of lost opportunity. He and he alone had a chance - possibly the last chance anyone will ever have if Hillary is elected in November - to demonstrate that one of the foundational principles of the American Experiment still applies.
That foundational principle is that we are a country in which all people are indeed created equal. That this is a country that has no ruling class. That this is a nation of laws, not of men, and that the laws that apply to the lowest among us apply equally to those who attain the highest public status.
James Comey alone could have become a true American hero by showing that this principle still applies in our society. Because he lacked either the character or the courage to do so, he demonstrated, perhaps irrevocably, that the opposite is now true in Barack Obama's fundamentally transformed America. We do now have a ruling class; we are no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of men; the law truly does apply differently to different people depending entirely on their class and political power.
It's a tragedy, plain and simple. Nothing else matters or need be said.
IF we can get Trump elected. then this too can be corrected. Comey indeed failed his great chance to do the right thing, yet maybe, just maybe, he put enough information in his failing report to allow for eventual redemption. I have to think that Hillary, Bill, and Loretta are pretty angry with him for putting forth the great 13 minutes of that report. Comey already knew what the final result would be if he sent the report to Lynch. So he made it public, and he did it in a manner which he had to know would enrage all the good, honest people of the United States. Congress is going to grill him and history will get it's chance to roast him as well, but this is a smart guy. He knew what he was doing when he laid it all out so well, then ditched at the last second. Only time will tell on the final outcome, it is not written yet. Maybe this will end up being an O'Henry tale instead of a Shakespearean Tragedy.
ReplyDeleteClay, I get that line of thinking, but just don't agree with it. Comey had one job: to make a finding of gross negligence and recommend prosecution to the AG. If he knew the fix was in, fine. His one obligation was to demonstrate the FBI still has its integrity intact. He failed to do that. He could have made the right referral and made exactly the same 13 minute statement.
ReplyDeleteYou are completely correct David, and well said. I just don't want folks to go away feeling defeated. Yes, that was a sad moment for the integrity of the rule of law here in the U.S. But think of this as a George R Martin novel, that was just one chapter. Bad guys can become good guys and vice versa, this story still has a few chapters left to reach a conclusion.
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