We should not be so hard on our House of Representatives today, despite their abrogation of their Constitutional oaths. Nor should we condemn the Senate in the days or weeks ahead for what is sure to follow there, or even President Bush for asking for these unprecedented departures from our Rule of Law. This is a difficult time for America, a time that tests even the greatest leadership. And the actions that our Congressional leaders are taking are not a journey into unexplored territory, but rather a parallel to those taken by a military hero and national leader not far in the past....
This heroic leader faced a nation at war, a war that, like the War on Terror, began with a great national loss. His military, like ours, did not always have the equipment it needed or the aid of its allies when they were called on. Like the War on Terror, it was a war that could not be won. At home, he faced a political landscape that was fragmented and corrupt with no will to face these problems head-on. His country's economy flirted with ruination.
But he stood strong, and took desperate action in desperate times. With the assent of his nation's Congress, he rapidly accumulated substantial and wide-reaching power, the power that he would need to face this threat. And that was power that he was willing to use in the face of crisis in much the same way that our President has used his powers. He emphasized the importance of faith-based programs and passionate patriotism. He dismissed political opponents from government posts to ensure a unified and focused leadership. He created a system of extrajudicial detention facilities to hold dangerous terrorists and foreign threats. And, just as we have struggled with a few bad eggs in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, his military was plagued by certain "excesses".
Who was this great leader, in whose footsteps Represntatives Hoyer and Pelosi walked today, and Senators Obama and Reid may walk tomorrow?
Philippe Pétain, Chief of State of Vichy France.
Pétain was one of the greatest betrayers and traitors of the modern era. His military was unprepared for the German assault because he, himself, insisted on using the weapons of 1918 to fight the war of 1940. His focus on faith and patriotism was best summarized by his abandonment of the French motto of "Liberty, equality, brotherhood" with a new motto: "Work, family, fatherland". His system of extrajudicial law and detention culminated with the creation of the counter-resistance "Milice", which frequently resorted to torture and attacks on innocents.
Sometimes, online writers compare Bush's mad grab for power to Hitler's. But we have had no Reichstag Fire, no Night of Long Knives. Our Congress, like the French Congress then, seems willing to give everything away to a leader who claims to be the only chance to keep us safe ... but who is part and parcel of the problem himself. And they do so, faced with a threat a thousand times less serious, a thousand times less imminent than the very real occupation that France suffered in 1940.
I understand the fear, Rep. Pelosi. I understand the anxiousness in taking a stand, Sen. Reid. No one -- not now, not 50 years ago, not ever -- wants to think that they might make the wrong choice, the choice that really does weaken this country and let the terrorists strike again. But when you vote on that fear, rather than on what makes this country great, you are not a leader. You are Philippe Pétain, clutching tight to your power even as it becomes meaningless, even as you watch the instruments you have set loose torture and kill in your name. And you will not be remembered for keeping this country safe. You will be remembered for selling it short and selling it out.