At this point, to be shocked and appalled by this administration is a rare thing, one we should cherish, or at least allow ourselves to be shocked and appalled in good order.

Today, they did it to me, not because what they did was so clearly wrong, but because of the sheer elegance of their response to the revelations involved. The simple story is that the previous Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, testified under oath today, saying that the administration had placed pressure on him to weaken or suppress certain public health reports because of political considerations. While it is important to note that previous administrations, namely Reagan and Clinton, did similar things, Carmona claims the actions taken by the current White House are far beyond what was done in the past.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/washington/11surgeon.html?hp

The article is one more in a long series of articles we have all seen and gawked at, indicating (as any good journalist will do, without bias, without forethought, just a little bit of steering in the right direction) that this administration cares more about staying in power than it does about the American people. Those are stupid words I just wrote, because they don’t mean anything. They are exactly the same thing as the White House response to this story:

Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman, said the surgeon general “is the leading voice for the health of all Americans.”

“It’s disappointing to us,” Ms. Lawrimore said, “if he failed to use this position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation.”

This response is stunning in its beauty, simplicity, and demeanor – even if it is their standard response to this sort of story. It means nothing, carries no weight, bypasses all accusations, assassinates the character of the man involved – a two-time purple heart recipient – and shows us the Bush administration cares deeply about the best interests of the nation. It is rhetoric, and I love it. Words have no loyalty; they serve their master as well as he or she knows how to use them.

The question on my mind: is it possible to be a leader in this country without resorting to this? Does anyone know a political leader out there who understands the power of words? I’m still looking.