Kim Davis and Hillary Clinton. What do they have in common? Let’s take a look.
They were both in the news this past week. A lot. True, but that’s not it.
They’re both women. True, but that’s not it.
They both have an affinity for public office, if not public service. One holds it. The other wants it. Public office, that is. True, but that’s not it.
They both enjoy being in the public limelight. True, but that’s not it either. Although we are getting warmer.
Each thinks she can pull the wool over our eyes and has NO sense of public responsibility or accountability. Bingo! Works for me.
Take Kim Davis. (Please do. I sure don’t want her. I just love saying that.) You know who she is, right. The Kentucky County Clerk who thinks she can refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because “God’s authority” trumps the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision making same-sex marriage the law of the land in all fifty states in our Union, including Kentucky. And Ms. Davis apparently knows a lot about marriage. According to the current issue of The Week, she’s been married and divorced four times. She apparently knows how to “play” God’s authority as well as the Supreme Court’s. Again according to the current issue of The Week, she’s given birth to not one but two children out of wedlock, the implication being that that was on two different occasions. And let’s be clear about this: My disrespect for Ms. Davis is not due to her sexual proclivities, but rather to her intellectual dishonesty, and the fact that she and those who advise her think they can game the system.
Now, let’s take Ms. Clinton. (Please do. Oh, sorry, did I already say that? Told you I just love saying that.) After months of first denying that she used the private email server in her private residence to conduct official and confidential government business while she was Secretary of State, and then denying that this misconduct was of any significance, Ms. Clinton this week finally said “That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility.” (Emphasis added.)
So, what’s my point? In a word, actually three, responsibility and accountability.
I don’t care one whit about Ms. Davis’ values and her lust for the spotlight and all of the attention she is receiving. More power to her. So long as she resigns her office. (Actually, I can reduce that preceding sentence to just the first two words, “So long.”) It’s not rocket science. If Ms. Kim wants to place her responsibility to God over her responsibility to the laws of our land, that’s fine with me. So long as she resigns her public office. She can’t have it both ways.
As for Ms. Clinton, was she just a little too late to the party? Did she too, like Ms. Kim, finally see the light? Hardly! It’s spelled “damage control.”
The inspector general for our intelligence agencies announced last week that Ms. Clinton’s private email server indeed contained “top secret” information. Subpoenaed to testify before a Congressional committee about what he knows, the consultant hired by Ms. Clinton to install the private email server in her home announced that he would refuse to testify on the basis of the Fifth Amendment, which provides that a person may not be required to be a witness against himself in criminal matters. And, of course, Ms. Clinton’s poll figures are plummeting. It seems that more and more of us are finally getting the message about Ms. Clinton, that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And that goes back to one matter after another pre-dating her present emailgate crisis.
“I take responsibility,” said Ms. Clinton. But what exactly does that mean? Responsibility for what? For violating the laws of our land that required her not to conduct “top secret” government business from her personal email server? For exercising poor judgment in that regard? Or for lying to the public about having done so?
And what consequences does Ms. Clinton have in mind when she says she now, belatedly, takes responsibility. That’s it? She just says that and we all put it behind us and move on as if it never happened? All is forgiven? Is she going to drop to the floor and give us 25 pushups? Is she going to write on the blackboard 25 times “I will never violate my public trust again.”? Or “I will never lie to the public again.”? Right. And if you believe that I have some beachfront property in Nebraska I want to sell you. (Another one of those statements I just love saying. And I do. A lot.)
Responsibility and accountability of public office holders and those who would hold public office is very simple to me. It’s a zero tolerance policy. Ms. Kim needs to resign, or be removed from office at the first opportunity in accordance with applicable law. And Ms. Clinton needs to withdraw her candidacy to become her party’s nominee for the next President of the United States. And spend more time doing pushups and writing reminders to herself on her blackboard.
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