Mr. Scott McClellan
Deputy Presidential Press Secretary, 2001-2003
Presidential Press Secretary, 2003-2006
Dear Mr. McClellan:
Thank you for setting the record straight about the despicable tapestry of lies the Bush Administration wove to mislead the American people into supporting an unnecessary war in Iraq, explain away its many other pathetic policy blunders and cover up its endemic criminality. The nation owes you a debt of gratitude.
Because of your new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," you will stand in history as the first of Bush's inner circle to break ranks and tell the truth. What has up to now been informed conjecture has been exposed to the light of day by one who stood in the middle of events. Your conscience has placed you in the company of John W. Dean, whose honesty helped lead to the resignation of that earlier criminal president, Richard M. Nixon.
As one who was at the heart of crafting the Bush message, your description of a President who ran things according to "permanent campaign mode instead of the best choices for America," and who "convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment," while engaging in serial "self-deception" have the ring of authority. These are the kinds of things citizens need to know when they are choosing their highest public servant. No doubt you had good reasons for not disclosing these traits as the President was running for re-election in 2004.
All Americans will applaud your forthright assessment that you knew the war in Iraq was "a serious strategic blunder" being foisted on the nation by a "political propaganda campaign" based on the President's "decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed." Your observation that this campaign of deception was abetted by a compliant press too tame to ask the hard questions or investigate the truth of the rationales you propounded to them from the lectern in the White House Press Room while you smeared the patriotism of skeptics marks you as a man of courage. Certainly the families of the 4,500 dead and 32,000 wounded U.S. troops will thank you for revealing these facts now, five years later.
Historians, too, will be glad you set the record straight about the President relying on the counsel of Presidential Political Adviser Karl Rove for his response to Hurricane Katrina. That explains to us why "the White House spent most of the first week in a state of denial," until "One of the worst disasters in our nation's history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush's presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush's second term." This is the kind of thing one can expect when a leader is more concerned about the political effects of problems than in actually preparing for them. Your candor will help writers of history better analyze why things went so wrong and will surely provide solace to the families of the 1,000 citizens who perished in the storm.
Your book will also contribute greatly to American justice and the principle that no one is above the law. By revealing that not only Scooter Libby but also Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and the President himself were involved in obstructing the investigation into the outing of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame Wilson you have shown your fearless willingness to tell all and name names. And now that the trial is over and President Bush has only a few months left to serve you have done so while sparing the taxpayers the expense of several additional messy trials and possible impeachment hearings. The families of the agents Wilson was running in Iran can also rest easy now, knowing who was responsible for the arrests or disappearances of their loved ones. Sometimes truth can be its own reward.
So for all these reasons, Mr. McClellan, I salute you. The American people will now know the full extent of the venal and corrupt character of this President from one who knows him best. Now that he is about to complete his second full term thanks in part to your steadfast defense of his record in hundreds of press conferences, your timely memoir will help cement his reputation as one of the worst presidents of all time. You are a great American.
Admiringly yours,
Steve Natoli
4 comments:
One wonders why it took so long for him to come to the realization that all was not well in Bushland.
I might take issue with your statement that he was the first. I believe Paul O'Neal wrote the first tell all book about the misuse of power by the Shrub and his cronies.
Thank you, Steve. I couldn't have put it more tellingly. I am heartily sick at the late-coming, tell-all tales that are trickling out. Too late, too late!. There is much to atone for, and such books will not serve. When one is asked to join in the most powerful institution in the world, the moral and ethical standard to which one should be willing to adhere is all the more elevated. If one lacked the moral compass and fortitude then, a tell-all book is hardly penance. How can one atone for the tragedy, grief, death, and desolation that such knowing silence allowed? In a pre-secular age, prayer, fasting, and humiliation of the flesh would have been called for. Wasn't it John Erlichman who chose a life of nonprofit service after Watergate? This book is perhaps a feeble and necessary start - a debt paid to history - but hardly a debt paid to the nation or to the thousands dead and maimed.
I read former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's book, "The Price of Loyalty" when it came out. It was indeed important as the first from a former Administration figure to reveal some of the unpleasant truths about this president and the way things were being run.
I had this in mind when I referred to McClellan as a member of Bush's "inner circle," though. While O'Neill certainly had a prominent position as Sec Treas, he was not an old Bush confidante who had served him since Texas days and had daily access to the President. That's the sense I meant when I refered to McClellan as part of the "inner circle" and not O'Neill.
Charles Colson was one former Nixonian who did a lot of charity work after serving time for his part in Watergate.
Watching McClellan at press conferences I remember being struck by the wooden and unpersuasive manner in which he defended some of the more specious Bush Administration assertions. His mien was altogether different from Rumsfeld's quick-witted retorts or Cheney's gravitas-laden pronouncements.
When faced with obvious contradictions in the Bush line, McClellan instead usually just kept repeating his talking points. He struck me as either not very competent or as someone who felt he really couldn't justifiably defend what he was putting out other than to keep saying what he had been told to say. It now makes me wonder whether he was wrestling with these issues even then. Was he simply unimaginative or was he sorely conflicted between loyalty to the president and giving the press a clearer picture of the truth?
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