Americanism part Deux

I think it's safe to say that if we Americans are going to watch someone fall, we'd like to see them fall spectacularly. We are not a moderate people, we like it big and splashy- there are entire shows dubbed our nation's funniest that rely on the premise that stumbling, mumbling and failing is a funny thing if done on a huge level. I think my thirst to see a BIG demise, inherent in my Americanism (adjust flag pin on lapel), has left me slightly disappointed in this whole Tom Daschle situation.

The former senator from a state to which I will probably never travel stepped down from consideration for Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services- the president's nerdy-red-glasses Clark Kent in the heroic path to meaningful national health care reform- for tax evasion. These actions are, understandably, Not Good and perhaps his name withdrawal will ultimately be the best course of action.

But, man, its not like he tried to take away civil liberties and then took hold of the Justice department. Or a received a coveted Supreme Court position after sexually harassing a coworker. Those falls were BIG- yet our collective national appetite was not yet whetted for engaging to the point that they were no longer in contention for those most crucial of constitutional positions. The appointing presidents, with their own shared Oedipal complex, were not willing to splat out in front of their nation and thus 'stood resolutely' behind these bad guys and watched as their house of cards weathered the storms (at least for a little while, when it comes to Ashcroft).

Now we have a president that not only admits to his small mistakes but actually apologizes for them? This doesn't sit well. There is no climactic court scene, no transcripts from terse Senate grilling. There is only two guys that didn't do all of their homework and required citizen assignments, realized their mistakes and said that they messed up. How Dick Van Dyke show. Fox wouldn't sign this plot if it was hand delivered by Bill O'Reilly. I feel like I don't even know my country anymore.

(On a personal note, I am a bit disappointed that Daschle is out of the picture. Working within the complexities of health care reform in the state has taught me the value of good leadership, if nothing else, in progressing meaningful reform. I hope that whomever is ultimately charged with this task has the appropriate connections and wherewithal exhibited by Daschle in all of his other legislative endeavors.)