Governor Douglas: Build the Ribbon and He Will Come
January 14, 2008 | 6 Comments
Was that Governor Jim Douglas at the award ceremony for the Vermont National Guard over the weekend? My, oh my, it was. Funny, huh, that the Guv didn’t turn down this invitation and, instead, suggest they invite President Bush to be the guest of honor? Because is was Douglas who told the anti-war folks last week that talking to him about the war was a waste of time since it’s President Bush we needed to be speaking to. But when it comes to war ceremonies or war funerals, Douglas is your war man for sure.
It’s all typical Douglas: Duck, dodge and negate. Come on, the guy’s learned a few things over his 35 years of being a professional politician. Which brings to mind a talent of his that is perhaps his best: Pretending to be an “aw-shucks” outsider when he’s really the king of insiders – 35 years of drawing that government paycheck, baby.
Douglas wants to duck and dodge the war when it’s not involving jingoism (ceremonies) or tragedies (funerals). If he can wrap himself in the so-called glories of war, Douglas is all for being the man Vermonters can cheer or tear-up with.
Just don’t bother him with the “issues” of the war. You know, things like how he, as the commander-in-chief of the Vermont National Guard, communicates to President Bush about the war. Douglas, for example, is following the polls on the war and now says he supports an “exit strategy.” Fine. Welcome aboard the sanity train. But has Douglas expressed this to Bush, the literal war leader, the man he campaigned for, and the man who invited Douglas and his wife over for a sleepover in the White House? Nope.
Douglas also ducked and dodged when the horrors of Abu Ghraib were first breaking. I remember going to his press conference at the time and asking him about the torture and humiliation going on there. Did Douglas, I wanted to know, support those who were calling for Donald Rumsfeld’s firing? Nope. It’s up to President Bush, he said.
And that’s been typical Douglas throughout these war times. He’s ducked and dodged the sticky war issues of the day (torture, funding, effectiveness, legality, etc.) and hoped no one would bother to ask him about his very close connection with the man (and men) who continue to lead us down this ill-fated war path. Aw shucks, he would say, it was just a night in the White House. You know, kind of like a favor for being the chairman of the President’s re-election effort in Vermont.
But when it’s yellow ribbon time, watch Douglas nudge his way to the podium. He did it last weekend when he doled out medals to members of the Vermont National Guard who had recently returned from more than a year of serving in Iraq. He feels your pain. He understands your commitments (will, as much as a non-server could). He mourns your loss. He honors your service. He supports the troops. He supports the President (when convenient). But, please, do NOT ask him about the war.
Our efforts to engage Governor Douglas on the war during his State of the State speech last week was my second attempt to bring some anti-war activism to his doorstep. The first was shortly after the war broke out when I showed about 40 Montpelier High School students how easy it was to get into one of his press conferences. Once there, they demanded some answers, specifically, did he support the war? “That’s an issue for President Bush. You’ve come to the wrong place.” Hmm, the students wondered, it’s up to President Bush to decide if Douglas supported the war? Weird. But welcome to the world of duck and dodge.
And Douglas did the same last Thursday when eight of us begged this question – via banners — during his speech: What About the War? Sorry, folks, wrong house, he said. But feel free to bug the neighbors about it.
Sadly, it’s this kind of obfuscation – ducking and dodging – that we’ve come to expect from Douglas on a wide variety of issues. Douglas punted, for example, on health care reform, thus forcing the ridiculous non-solution known as Catamount Health. He did the same on energy issues and global warming when his fear of the bold – even when the bold is necessary – led to his veto of the energy bill. And the same for campaign finance reform, as his intransigence on that issue is effectively killing it for the upcoming election season.
I guess it’s really not too difficult to understand the Douglas Doctrine. You simply show him the ribbon, and he will come. Otherwise, don’t bother him.
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