Emerging Women

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Bush and The Obstruction of Justice

Check out this Olbermann video. I'd love to hear comments on what your thoughts are both on the video's content and if you feel there is a prophetic role for God's people in holding our President accountable. If so, any practical suggestions?

Labels: Politics, Social Justice

posted by Jemila Kwon at 4:12 PM

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9 Comments:

At 7/05/2007 05:28:00 PM, Lydia

your thoughts

1) This is part of the reason why I believe so ferverently in the separation of church and state. Can you imagine how much worse things would be if the average U.S. citizen was taught that their President - any President, not just the current one - was the mouthpiece of God? :O

2) I wonder how realistic impeachement is/would be at this point, though?

3) In my opinion, The U.S. government would be much healthier if there were more than 2 "main" parties to choose from. Here in Canada, there are 4 "main" parties(i.e. parties that are capable of winning a majority of votes in at least one Province) to choose from at election time. We still have our share of problems, but the election process is much less socially and religiously divisive up here. I think the geater number of options one has plays a big part in this.

if you feel there is a prophetic role for God's people in holding our President accountable. If so, any practical suggestions?

Yes. My best suggestion: as tempting as it may sound some days, it would not be a good idea for Progressive Christians to work to replace the "Religious Right" with a "Religious Left."

While I believe that Christians as individuals do have a place in politics....Christian "movements" (i.e. lobby groups) most often do not.

But that's another post. :)
At 7/05/2007 05:30:00 PM, Lydia

er...

"geater" = "greater"
At 7/05/2007 07:08:00 PM, Candace

I wish I was a political science major so I could put forth all kinds of wonderful insight to this post...but, I'm not and all I know in my heart is that our system is broken and has been for a long time.

Can it be fixed...I hope so. Is it fair for the mainstream media to supply a vast majority of Americans with one-sided information...certainly not. Does the issue at hand (Libbey sentence) call for an immediate resignation...not in my opinion. Is Bush acting in the very best interest of our country...it depends on who you ask, I suppose.

I don't feel that Olberman's call for resignation and/or impeachment is appropriate on many levels. While he took the liberty to refer to Nixon's resignation prior to impeachment proceedings, there was no correlation made between Bush and Clinton's impeachment/aquittal. Why is it ok to create a relationship between a Republican and a Republican but not a Democrat and a Republican?

What of the 140 or so pardons and several commutations that Clinton issued on his last day in office including that of his own half-brother - he was definitely criticized at the time, but set forth an unfortunate standard. Criticism and indictment are not the same thing.

The Libbey commutation removed the prison term (30 months), but the conviction and additional conditions remain - was this favoritism by Bush...yes, of course. Does it call for resignation...not for me. I suppose I selfishly continue to hold onto the fact that the country my family lives in has remained in relative safety for the last 5 1/2 years (even if it is due to the controversial decisions of our President).

I agree with Lydia's statement regarding Christians and politics - a Christian movement would most likely do more harm to the already diminished view of Christianity in our country than good for our political system. I believe that God calls us to hold to our faith, values, and morals - can we maintain that calling in the political arena?
At 7/05/2007 08:56:00 PM, Jemila Kwon

Candace, good points about the precedent set by Clinton. For me, that's all the more reason to set a new precedent of our Presidents being accountable to the law and not above the law. Is is worth going through an impeachment process so late in the game? Pragmatically no -- at least for the immediate situation -- but philosophically, I think it's important so that future presidents (democrat or republican) understand that they will be called to account not only by God, but also be the law.

As a not-Bush fan, I also have to say that the Libby thing is sort of a last straw for me. If it were the ONLY thing, perhaps I would be content with a strong censure. But context DOES matter in my mind.
At 7/05/2007 08:57:00 PM, Jemila Kwon

That should be "by the law," not "be the law." Interesting unintended double meaning though :)
At 7/06/2007 12:19:00 AM, Candace

Jemila,

I agree that the Libby commutation is the "icing on the cake" for this administration - it is too bad that corruption rears it's ugly face so often in politics. There is certainly truth to the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely. As a society we tend to just let it be...how have we become so passive? Personal accountability is a value that so many Americans (not just politicians) seem to be missing.
At 7/07/2007 04:23:00 PM, juniper

Impeachment and just blame is all very well but . . . at some point, I decided that both major parties suck. I think the answer is to find better candidates rather than a new party. Consequently, I joined the local committee of my party. Good people need to be encouraged to run and then hooked into whatever party they belong to.
At 7/07/2007 06:22:00 PM, Jemila Kwon

Juniper, I hear you.
At 7/07/2007 09:40:00 PM, Joel

I started to comment a few days ago and decided not to.

I have less problem with the whole Libby issue (I believe he was a scapegoat for someone higher up) than I do with what has been done in the Middle East over the last few years.

In this video Tony Campolo talks to Mark Lowery about some of the issues in both Israel and Iraq that our president has helped bring about

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