Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Priorities, Smiorities

Let's play a game...let's pretend we can wave a wand, and POOF! make you Attorney General for the United States of America. We'll give you Eric Holder's job. You start today. Good luck!

So, if you were Attorney General, what would your priorities be? What do you think are the biggest legal issues facing our country right now? What would you do today?
Maybe you would want to investigate how that Wikileaks jerkface Julian Assange was able to obtain such a mind-boggling amount of U.S. classified documents, again?
Would you start with our illegal immigration problem? Or maybe work on some ideas to reform our legal immigration procedures?

What should be done with the detainees at Guantanamo? (Hmmm, what happened to that January deadline? President Obama seems to have forgotten about his self-imposed deadline...or did reality give him a nasty slap across the face?)

How about how to handle the trials of terrorists? The White House didn't want military tribunals, but the civilian trials aren't going so well.  

And of course, we need to continue to be vigilant in our efforts to protect our country from future acts of terrorism.  How should we investigate terror plots?  What legal protections do American citizens who are suspected terrorists deserve?  What if the suspected terrorists aren't Americans? 

Maybe you would want to look into voter fraud issues?  Looks like New York is a good place to start.

Medicare/Medicaid fraud is an ongoing epidemic that costs us untold billions of dollars every year. That might be worth investigating.
That's a pretty good list. I bet you can think of some others.  Why don't you write them down?

OK, what's on your list?  Is a soccer game anywhere on it?  Yes, I said soccer game.  Soccer is a big national priority, isn't it?  Oh.  Soccer wouldn't be on your list of priorities if you were Attorney General?

Well, guess you can't have the job after all.  Because apparently in the Obama administration, soccer is a really big deal:


Yes, Eric Holder, our Attorney General, is in Switzerland today, to lobby to bring the World Cup to America in 2022.  

The week that our national security and worldwide diplomatic efforts are endangered by Wikileaks' latest release of documents, just a few weeks after terrorists attempted to send explosives hidden in printer cartridges in cargo planes, in the middle of important debates (and accompanying litigation) regarding the health care bill, immigration, don't-ask-don't-tell, and terrorism trials, Eric Holder is taking a little vacation to Switzerland to chat about a soccer game that is taking place twelve years from now.

Are you @#$% kidding me?!

Now, I've been to Switzerland.  It's lovely.  I mean, it's lovely in a so-pretty-it-almost-makes-your-eyeballs-hurt kind of way.  The people are extremely nice...and the chocolate, oh yes, don't forget the chocolate!  I highly recommend you visit if you get a chance.

It's ridiculously lovely, but does not belong on the Attorney General's to-do list (Image from FreeFoto.com)
With everything that is going on right now, in the United States and around the world, I cannot for the life of me figure out how a soccer game to be played more than a decade from now has a darn thing to do with what our Attorney General should be doing with his time.  

For that matter, why is this a priority for the White House at all?  Is a soccer game twelve years from now going to create jobs?  Give me a break.

Maybe this relates to how Obama is supposed to magically make the world "like" us again.  Most of the planet thinks we're silly for not calling it "football" like they do.  Is Eric Holder telling everyone in Switzerland that Obama will make us start saying football if they give us the World Cup?  Hmmm, the Great and All-Knowing Obama will have to decide what we're supposed to call football, but I'm sure he'll figure something out.

Bottom line: this is just plain ridiculous, a colossal waste of taxpayer money and resources,  sends the message that the White House is not serious about oh, pretty much every issue facing us right now, and is, in my opinion, just one more bit of proof that the Obama Administration is in way over their heads.


3 comments:

  1. I think it is appropriate for President Obama's Administration to rally support for the 2022 World Cup. If we get the Cup, it'll bring a lot of money into the U.S., and putting on a good show for the world will give us prestige with the world. South Africa gave a good example of that this year.

    Although it's strange that they sent AG Holder rather than someone from the State Department or a former player, or even Obama himself.

    -Jordan

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  2. I don't really have a problem with the White House trying to get the World Cup here as a general concept. I do, however, have a gigantic problem with sending Eric Holder.

    For one thing, I really doubt he's the best person for the job. Holder has never struck me as particularly charismatic; for this type of trip we need more of a "salesman" personality. Surely we have an ambassador or someone with lobbying experience who can help President Clinton make the case for the U.S. Holder doesn't have any "celebrity" power on his own; he adds nothing to the U.S. contingent.

    But again, I just do not believe that this trip belongs on Holder's priority list...especially with everything that is going on right now. I want our Attorney General focused on *his* job, a very important job, not wasting time on what's basically a goodwill/PR trip that lots of other people could have done instead of him.

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  3. Not only that, but the current administration will not still be in office by then (unless they declare martial law and suspend elections).

    I realize that you have to plan ahead for certain types of events, but sending the Attorney General doesn't even make sense....Oh wait--when was the last time this administration actually did something that made sense?

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