"I'm Not A Crook"

I was raised a Roman Catholic, and one of the things Roman Catholics do is confess to a priest to have their sins absolved. The “confessional” is the place in the church where one goes to kneel in secret, behind a screen, and tell the priest of their wrongdoings and receive “penance” to wash them clean until the next time they need absolution. Everything that happens in a “confessional” is completely confidential, and completely secure; no person outside the priest should ever hear what has been said in the “confessional”.

In America, we have “Presidential Cabinet Meetings”, and they are usually closed to the public, as issues of national security are discussed and need to be kept confidential. I, as an American, hope that all of these meetings, that are so crucial to American security, are closely guarded from the possibility of “leaks” that could jeopardize our nation in any way. The idea that the content of these meetings would be used for a political purpose is abhorrent to me and could be described as an abuse of power by any person who would do this. The people of America are entitled to a truthful and secure government, from any and all that hold public office.

Forty years ago, America underwent one of her worst cases of abuse of power and corruption, during the administration of Richard M. Nixon. “Watergate” is now a famous section of all history books when speaking of former President Nixon. “What he knew, and when he knew it?” was the famous question of the day way back then.

This minor break-in became the down-fall of the most powerful man in America, as the “cover-up” led all the way into the Oval Office. Nixon, out of a sense of loyalty to his appointees, tried to hide essential information from a Senate Investigation. He even made an attempt to have a “special prosecutor” investigate the scandal from the White House. In the case of the special prosecutor, Mr. Nixon made a crucial mistake; he appointed Archibald Cox. Cox was a man of impeccable character, with an honored legal reputation. He was a man who was above politics, and took his position most seriously. Soon. it became apparent that Mr. Cox was cutting too close to the bone in the Nixon Administration, and the President didn’t like it one bit. Dick Nixon believed in “Presidential Privilege”, and Archibald Cox believed in telling all the truth; this would not end well! Nixon pulled every string in his Presidential survival kit and Cox was fired. All this did was cast further doubt on the wounded Nixon Presidency. All Americans know the out-come; a Presidential Resignation that followed Nixon until his death.

Currently, there has been an allegation that crucial information was leaked from an Obama Cabinet Meeting, which was used as a political tool to boost Mr. Obama’s re-election hopes. National security is the main issue of these leaks, and trust from our allies is in great jeopardy because of this irresponsible act.

Mr. Obama has been quite ambiguous about how he would be treating this allegation. Eric Holder, Mr. Obama’s beleaguered Attorney General, has appointed two U. S. Attorneys to do an independent probe of what has taken place. Obama has feigned indignation about this incident saying “The notion that MY White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. It’s wrong.” I see Mr. Obama calls it MY White House. It is only a rental Mr. Obama; it belongs to the American People.

I believe we are in for some real political gymnastics over the investigation of these leaks that will verge on “Nixonian Rhetoric” from Barack Obama. The information that was leaked was only available to those members who were present at specific Cabinet Meetings, and should be very easy to check. I wonder if Eric Holder, whose honesty and integrity are under question as I write this, will do the honest investigation we are entitled to, or will this be another “fast and furious” attempt to cover things up? Remember these words, “I’m not a crook!” Hmmmm!?