It Matters Which Mistake You Make in Washington, DC

There are two major mistakes that can be made in Washington, DC. One is to be caught telling a lie. The other is to be caught telling the truth. Based on recent experience, the second evokes more outrage than the first.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's rendition of her excellent Bosnia adventure is an example of the first. She was not sent to Bosnia because the president could not go (He was there two months earlier.) Unlike our troops in Iraq, she was greeted with flowers, not sniper fire. This was not a misstatement late at night by a tired candidate -- although her husband continues to assert this falsehood. She reported the fictional event at least three times, never in the dead of night waiting for the 3 am phone call. This was not a slip of the tongue. This was not a misstatement. This was a lie. But the courtly protocol inside the Capital Beltway is to not use that three-letter word and to forgive quickly those many politicians who commit this offense frequently. "Spin" is used where possible to disguise the fact that it was a lie. And it was also an insult to the military who would face a courts martial for filing a false combat action report and to the Secret Service for allegedly letting the First Lady and her daughter go into so dangerous a situation. Despite this, the Obama campaign has not aped the Republican attack machine by constant harping on these facts.

Senator Barack Obama committed a greater offense by Washington, DC standards. He committed truth. However poorly phrased his California fundraiser comments, recorded by the Huffington Post, were true. The people of this nation are angry at being left with a war without end and an economy that has slipped into recession. They are bitter that the promises made by the last two administrations have not been met. A disproportionate share of those who serve, fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan come from small towns and rural areas while the rest of the country is fed the bromide of painless patriotism. Average wages, adjusted for inflation have not risen. Family income has risen only to the extent that second earners have been added. Virtually all of the productivity growth since 2000 has gone to corporate profits and exploding CEO pay. And "creative" financial schemes on Wall Street are leading to recession and foreclosures. Of course middle and working class people are frustrated angry and bitter, they have every right to be.

And what about the inelegant (a spin word) phrasing about immigrants, guns and religion? There is a core of truth here. Read Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas? to see how conservatives use "Guns, God and Gays" and other social issues to con voters into voting against their own economic interests. That is the core of the Republican campaign strategy. And in times of stress, more people tend to look for scapegoats or to seek solace and hope in religion or other comforting communities.

In Washington, DC, however, such truth appears to be an unpardonable sin. Because he has spoken of the frustration of small towns and working class people, the right wing media brands him an elitist. Sen. Clinton proves that she and Senator John McCain are indeed friends by echoing the elitist line. Both Senator Clinton and Senator McCain are multimillionaires. Senator McCain, while downplaying the housing crisis and doing nothing for the 200,000 veterans who sleep on the streets, has to decide which of his 6 or 7 homes to sleep in at night. Senator Obama's mistake was being from a lower middle class background and understanding the plight of people in that situation today. Unforgivable.

Perhaps truth telling is considered worse than lying because so few in Washington practice the former and so many the latter. "Mission Accomplished." "The United States does not torture." "We have turned a corner in Iraq." "My votes are not influenced by campaign contributions."

It is not only small town residents who are angry and want change. And bitterness can be found across the country from the grave sites of our fallen youth to the foreclosure signs spreading across neighborhoods.

But do not tell that truth, it will get you in trouble with the elites. Lie instead, that's ok.

Comments

[RealityBaseCamp]

People seem to be throwing around the word "elite," when the word in question is "elitist." Focus, people.

[efranklin]

Lying beats truth for sure, but bald-faced hypocrisy is even better:

In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach. "Screw 'em," she told her husband. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them."

[larry278]

Committing the truth is as big an offense as being caught by your boss in the act of working. Obama is hated because he's honest, he's right & he will become POTUS #44.
l lynch

[newzzzjunkie]

Hilary Clinton is a LIAR. She is a two faced, no class, LIAR. She continues to LIE and wiggles her way out of it. She LIES America! Wake up! I want the truth. I want honesty. I want something fresh and new and hopeful. I am disgusted with the lynching last night rom ABC news. I am disgusted with Fox News. This isn't journalism, it's railroadism. I'm so sick of it. So is the rest of America. I don't want a liar in the White House. I want a brilliant man. I want Barack Obama!

[jfor]

President Bush chose to take America into war and send our family members off to fight for lies he and Cheney manufactured seven years ago. Since that time our country under his leadership has broken treaties, is now a country that tortures and not trusted by the majority of other countries in the world. Yet it is Obama that has hurt our feelings?

Give me a break.

[oldlakelady]

Isn't that a sad reality - lying beats the truth in Washington. Barack has done such a good job in the debate tonight pointing out again and again how destructive and distracting this kind of politics is. when this country has so many important issues that need to be saved. Don't you think he has been doing very well despite very tough grilling on every misstep he has made.. He is so calm. He is so presidental,

[Chuckbutcher]

No, Barack did not commit truth, the statement was so clumisly phrased that no truth emerged. You have to either get that or accept that he is not the man to be President. What was stated might be able to be rationalized into something truthful, in itself it was not. There were a whole bunch of words missing that make the statement true otherwise it simply is not.

If you want to talk about, for example, religion in this regard, the issue is that people who find themselves losing to forces they have no control of hold more tightly to issues they do have control of and no outside uncontrollable forces can make them change their religion. Obama's shorthand version does not make clear what he meant or even make a sensible statement. "The sky is blue" is true, sometimes for specific reasons - it is not truth.

[nunzia]

Yes, he committed TRUTH.
And he is guilty of PROFOUND INSIGHT.
---I am not an Obama supporter, solely because I
don't think he can win against the Repugnican
swiftboaters, and I DO believe Hillary (yes, and Bill) will
fight those bastards into the ground, and save us
from another 4 to 8 years of Repugnican ruin.--
I'm not an Obama supporter, but I know hyped-up b.s. when I hear it.
This whole brouhaha over his remarks is
precisely that. It's b.s.

[NeoChase]

Thank you.

[tangolopez]

I remember one of Hillary's supporter saying why she supported Hillary: So children especially girls can see where they can go. The congresswoman may want to add how? by lying of course. Did not our parents taught us from young not to lie? And that congresswoman think Hillary is setting a good example? Btw, the congresswoman is black. So, she is also tell black children it is ok to be put down by a white woman? What kind of distorted message is this??

[roncraw]

Here's a real con job. Obama all week has been telling people how could anyone call him elite,at jone time he was on food stamps.He desclosed his 07 earning today 4,238,000 that's millions.If as he says money makes you elite then he is elite.

[batspaul]

Great, then. Vote for the pauper who is running. Oh, wait. there isn't one.

The question isn't who is elite. God God, I hope whoever becomes President is elite. At least in terms of intelligence and understanding of our problems, and those of the world. We've had 7 years so far to witness what someone who is sub-standard in those areas will get us.

No, we're talking about elitist here. And if you think a man who left Harvard Law school at the top of his class to become a community organizer, instead of taking millions to be a corporate attorney, is elitist, then I question your standards.

[bos123]

What about 109 millions in just 7 years?

[mesuki]

Why is it that all of you Hillary supporters are so uneducated.? Ignorance is a terrible thing,you guys should really try to educate yourselves as to what is going on around you.The things you post here never makes any sense.

[NeoChase]

Having been one who suffered the embarrassment that your family using food stamps brings to a child I can tell you it sticks with you and, though it doesn't necessarily make you humble, in an intelligent person it will keep you from feeling that you are better than others. It sort of defines you. If anything it lets you know, in no uncertain terms, you are not one of the elite and that things don't come easy. No, I have not made millions, or any where near the amounts of money Senator Obama has, still I feel just the knowledge of what it is to be without stays with you. IMHO.

[roncraw]

At a CLOSED fund raiser in San. Fran. Obama was asked why small town people weren't voting for him.His reply in part was antipathy(a strong dislike"We­bsters")to people who aren't like them. If that isn't bigotry there is no such thing as bigotry.Keep in mind he never thought his words would be made public.

[netgecko99]

I might even give your accusation *some* credibility if small-town people weren't voting for Obama, too. I mean, jeez, he won IDAHO of all places!

[ObserverinVancouver]

So, I guess by your standards Ed Rendell is a bigot too.

[IndyStacey]

Obama knew reporters were present; he knew his remarks might become public. It was a secret meeting as you suggest.

[b2008]

Isn't that what one would want from a President?

[JRandomPoster]

Well said.

[Countess]

"Truth is a completely unacceptable tactic and Obama should renounce and reject this idea." I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.

[Vige]

ROTFLMAO! Love a sense of humor.

[MRCJJOHNS]

well done

[hopeless277]

I'm not bitter, I'm OUTRAGED. Our criminal government should be overthrown so that we may start over again. If not, we'll be reliving this whole episode the next time a Republican is elected to the presidency.

[SeriousBlack]

"Barack Obama committed a greater offense than Hillary's sniper fire lies by Washington, DC standards. He committed truth."

That pretty much says it all.