White House Staff to Take Remedial Ethics Classes

When President Bush ran in the 2000 election, he campaigned in part on the pledge that he would restore dignity and honor to the White House. This slightly veiled attack on President Clinton’s inability to keep his zipper up helped pick up a few votes among those who believe the presidency should be a moral, as well as a political, office. What must those people be thinking now that Mr. Bush has told his staff to take seminars in ethics?

About 3,000 people who work in the Executive Office of the President (a case of over-staffing?) received a memo requiring them to attend classes on ethics and the handling of classified material. The memo reads in part, “The President has made clear his expectation that each member of his Executive Office of the President (EOP) staff adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of all rules governing ethical conduct for EOP staff.”

This comes about a week after Irv Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation of Plamegate – wherein someone in the White House leaked a CIA operatives name to the press, a possible felony. This comes three years after the White House misled, or lied, to the American people to launch a war of aggression against Iraq under false pretenses (no matter how positive the consequences). This comes four plus years after Vice President Cheney sat down with the oil industry to draw up an energy policy for the nation, which remains completely secret and kept from the American people.

The unpleasant fact is that if one needs to be taught ethics at the age of 50, it’s simply too late. Right and wrong have to be taken in with mother’s milk, and reinforced before kindergarten. Winning at any cost has become the American way, but that cheapens the victory, and it undermines the foundation of sport, the economy and the Republic. And requiring a class on ethics of those who are already ethical in their professional life is insulting as well as redundant.

A far better way to get government officials to behave as one would like is to hold them accountable. Loyalty is an admirable trait, but for Mr. Bush, it borders on a tragic flaw just as surely as MacBeth’s ambition. People make mistakes, but if no one is held responsible for mistakes, one comes to believe that any action is permissible because there are no consequences. And that just isn’t so. And for the Bush team, it’s too late – whoever runs in 2008 can still campaign on returning respect and dignity to the White House.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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