Two Nixon Anniversaries: Watergate and the Opera "Nixon in China"

Richard Nixon
(photo from CBS News)

Anyone with a sense of history and dread should not miss reading Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's account of Watergate in today's online editions of the Washington Post. The article is a searing indictment of Richard Nixon and his cabal. For those who did not live during the Watergate era, the piece offers a blunt reminder of how a president masterminded a criminal conspiracy designed to consolidate power by undermining the nation's principal governmental and communications institutions.

Tricky Dick's exploits led to his forced resignation. However, it's a bit easier to be "holier than thou" when Nixon is the subject. Where was a very compliant American media when George W. Bush and his collection of ideologically motivated cohorts treated the law as an inconvenience rather than something to cherish? The actions of right-wing intellectual gangsters such as John Yoo brought far deeper disgrace to the United States than anything Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman did during the Watergate era. To this day, the American people have not been able to face the collective domestic political silence that characterized the Bush-Cheney era. A contrast of that inaction with the ferment of the Watergate era is not flattering to the current generation.

Hillary Clinton and Chinese President Hu JinTao in 2009
(photo from Xin Hua/Yao Dawei)

While the mainstream media is busy recalling Watergate, the San Francisco Opera is staging John Adams' Nixon in China. This year, coincidentally, is the 25th anniversary of the opera's premiere in Houston. The opera's story line involves the historic meeting between Mao and Nixon. At that time, the People's Republic of China was a largely backward, agrarian, and communist nation immersed in the Cultural Revolution; the United States was a stable, economically flush superpower. Now, America relies on Chinese purchases of US Treasury bonds to remain solvent; China is busy creating a new economic nexus that includes Brazil and a non-communist Russia. Unfortunately, there is currently an absence of effective American foreign policy leadership. It is more than a little ironic that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was a staff member on the House committee that investigated the Nixon Administration's involvement with Watergate and other criminal activities. I wonder if she reflects on those days and asks herself what Tricky Dick would do with China now.

Jeb Bush, the 2012 Presidential Race, and 2016

Jeb Bush (right) with George H.W. Bush (left) and Barbara Bush. 

For all the fuss and fire about lightweight GOP presidential candidates, party heavyweight Jeb Bush has notably stayed on the sidelines through the fracas. While it appears Bush 41/Yale has given Mitt Romney/Harvard a Don Corleone-esque nod of approval, Jeb has been circumspect with his opinion. The Bush's son's actions matter. As the heir apparent to the Bush political dynasty, Jeb has profound clout among Republican party regulars and funders. Consequently, his silence on the various candidates panting to run against Barack Obama has impact that ripples through the entire GOP relationship network. A Washington Post article on a slow-news Christmas Day explores this situation. Keep in mind that slow-news days are excellent times for insider topics to quietly reach a wider audience.

The story intriguingly hints at Jeb's ambitions for the 2016 presidential race. That scenario makes a great deal of sense, especially as Romney is made to order as the GOP's 2012 presidential sacrificial lamb. Jeb wants no part of a contest against Obama, and Jeb would like to put a leash around the GOP's extreme right-wingers. The 2012 presidential campaign will accomplish both goals, while clearing the way for Jeb to be both the anti-Obama is 2016 and a GOP candidate suburban voters, Hispanic voters, and conservative-leaning women can comfortably vote for. (I feel the heavyweight presidential campaign will be in 2016, and it will be US politics' version of the Thrilla in Manila: Jeb Bush vs Hillary Rodham Clinton.)

The relationship between the Big O and JB is a curious one. I noted in a March 2011 post that Bush and Obama jointly spoke at a Miami event focusing on K-12 education. Jeb's public stance is that Obama is beatable in 2012. However, Bush does not embrace reactionary positions on selected social issues, such as immigration and education. In fact, some Obama Administration policies are closely aligned to Jeb's notions, and Bush has wisely kept quiet on those fronts. In the end, Obama's directions will be easier for a Bush administration to modify than those of the GOP's ideologically motivated factions.

President Obama and Jeb Bush at March 2011 event in Miami.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is in the middle.
(Photo from politico.com)

Attorney with Links to George H.W. Bush Files Complaint to Remove Anti-Fox News Media Matters' Tax-Exempt Status

Media Matters for America, a liberal non-profit organization which has virulently criticized Fox News and the Murdoch media empire, has become a target of right-wing legal action. In a recent complaint filed with the IRS, C. Boyden Gray, former President George H.W. Bush's White House counsel, requested the agency revoke Media Matters' tax-exempt status. His reasoning, according to an article by award-winning Fox Business News reporter Elizabeth MacDonald, was that Media Matters "'has executed a partisan strategy,' in violation of U.S. tax law as it exists 'no longer to educate the public but, rather, to declare 'war on FOX (sic),' Gray says, quoting from an interview its founder David Brock (photo), gave to the website Politico."

The story also reveals evidence Gray cited as proof of Media Matters' intent. His IRS complaint, MacDonald's piece noted, asserted that the nonprofit attempted "to disrupt News Corp.'s purchase of BSkyB, a British satellite broadcaster, and its efforts "to turn regulators in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere against the network."

Gray's concern to mighty Media Matters kicking sand in the Murdoch empire's collective face didn't stop with BSkyB. "Gray writes that aside from Media Matters' 'unsupportable attempt to tie FOX News to the Republican Party, the fact that Media Matters equates FOX News' with the GOP shows the nonprofit's 'own partisan intent.'"

Gray's story, part of a much longer three-part article by MacDonald, appeared on Fox News' website this morning.

The former White House counsel's "evidence" certainly made the rationale for attack clear enough. Big, bad Media Matters tried to block the BSkyB deal. The Murdoch clan is clearly upset their carefully staged plan to seize total control of the UK's single most valuable media asset was thwarted. Their revenge and counterattack, which is probably in its earliest stages, has taken this primitive form. Meanwhile, the notion of associating Fox and the Murdoch media behemoth with the GOP and conservative causes is just plain common sense. When I initially read the piece, I thought Gray was pursuing this line of reasoning to get a bar room laugh. Alas, George Herbert Walker Bush's former legal eagle was quite serious about it.

One irritant Gray wants to rub out is Brock's venture. The Bush-41 coterie has deeply disliked Brock, a Republican and Bush-era political apostate who has since become a vocal critic of right-wing tactics and objectives. Brock was mixed up with the Anita Hill hearings and performed some dirty work on behalf of Bush and then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in that episode.

Gray has vehemently denied any link to Fox, Murdoch, or anything or anyone but himself. He just had time on his hands, and a bone to pick with Media Matters. Maybe Gray just doesn't see the nonprofit as "fair and balanced."

Perhaps there's another reason. Since the UK phone jacking scandal exploded, it has seemed inevitable that the Murdoch empire would strike back against its accusers. August gave News Corp. and the Murdoch family time to catch its collective breath, formulate a counterattacking strategy, call in favors, and use its "leverage." (Some suspect that News Corp.'s attempts at "persuasion" are really nothing more than thinly disguised blackmail threats.) The dreadful debt debacle and shameful downgrade of the United States' credit rating provide further cover for News Corp. The firm, and the Murdoch family, are not the current headline, at least in the United States. The UK, where everyday people felt violated by News Corp.'s reporters' routine phone tapping, is another matter. The disposition of Gray's legal complaint remains to be seen. However, one can assume the Murdochs and News Corp. will soon be on the march, defending Fox News against "scurrilous" attacks from liberal think tanks virtually no one knows or pays attention to.

Obama, Jeb Bush, and a Miami High School Visit

President Obama visited Miami Central High School today, and cited its "improvement" as an example of desirable institutional progress. The Miami Herald has some details about the visit, including Jeb Bush's role in it. The Washington Post version of events, however, offers much more political juice.

The story's intrigue involves Obama and the Bush clan. Why would 44 play ball with the GOP's resident family dynasty? Why would the Bushes cooperate with the Big O, when the Hawaiian-born president harshly criticized President 43?

To some extent, la famille Bush and Obama have managed a truce beyond the political practicalities of rhetorical stances. Obama's defense secretary, Robert Gates, comes from the Bush camp. It's not a coincidence that Obama has been relatively safe from right-wing criticism of defense matters. (Let's see what happens once Gates retires.) The Obama administration, which intended to shut down the Guantanamo prison, has kept it open. Desperately needed inquiries into the so-called "war on terror" have been largely avoided. The Bush administration's handling of the American financial crisis never seemed like an issue Obama wanted fully aired. The disturbing usurpation of civil liberties through the aggressive use and manipulation of national intelligence assets, to the shame of the American conservative movement, remains largely unaddressed.

While Obama could be characterized as understandably wary and cautious about the Bushes, it does not explain why Jeb Bush would interject himself into an issue essential to Obama's re-election bid. However, Obama might have one eye on the GOP presidential primaries. To win the party primaries, GOP candidates typically veer hard toward the political right. That tilt, along with the fanaticism of the Tea Party faction, means Obama has an opportunity to convince centrists and moderates that he, again, is The One. The Bush clan represents the GOP establishment that has a perspective that Obama has already demonstrated he can live with, while not necessarily liking it. As represented by 41 and brightest son Jeb, the Bushes offer a world view in which religiously inspired foreign policy and combative domestic agendas don't mix with practical issues of governing, economic strength, and diplomatic-military jiu-jitsu.

Jeb Bush, through his olive branch to Obama, has set the groundwork for continued cooperation. Its vision extends to the 2012 election, and beyond.

The photo, from Life, shows former president George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, and to Mrs. Bush's left, Jeb Bush.