Too many politicians are sounding like kids

When we listen to political debate lately we are reminded of the days when our kids were young. Just like our kids, politicians who get caught in a mistake — or doing something wrong — often argue that others have done the same. It’s the old “He did it too” defense.

When the Abramoff scandal broke, and several Republican Congressmen were implicated in wrong doing, the defense was “The Democrats are just as bad,” and they pointed the finger at Congressman William Jefferson (D- Louisiana ) who was caught with $90,000 in his freezer.

And when Congressman Foley’s inappropriate activities came to light, Republicans immediately invoked former Cape Cod Congressman Gerry Studds’ name.

This “they do it too” argument usually launches a fruitless discussion about who is worse, Democrats or Republicans, thus taking the focus off of the current wrongdoers.

We want to say the same thing to the politicians who do this as we used to say to our young kids: “The fact that others do the same kind of thing does not excuse you. You did something wrong, and you have to pay the price.” We believe that being a grownup means taking responsibility for your own behavior.

But there is a defense that is even worse than the “He did it too” argument. If you have kids, you may recognize it. We call it the “It’s all his fault!” argument.

This approach has been used for many problems by the Bush administration. They blamed Clinton for the recession that justified their tax decreases, for example. Then they blamed him for not killing “Osama Been Hiding,” which (they imply) would have prevented 9-11.

Now the Bush people are trying to pin their problems with North Korea on Clinton. If only Bill had not made that crummy deal with “Dear Leader,” they say, all would be well on the Korean peninsula today. It’s all Bill’s fault.

A huge amount of time has been wasted arguing over these matters. Clinton made headlines refuting the bin Laden argument in an interview on Fox TV just recently.

We say: “Enough already! Can we please start acting like grownups?”

For example, whatever Clinton may or may not have done wrong, the fact is that the Bush administration has been in power for nearly six years now (with a Republican Congress for much of that time), and it is time for them to take responsibility for what has happened on their watch.

Instead of wasting time blaming Clinton for his problems, Bush should be doing everything he can to leave the world a better place when he retires. History won’t blame anyone but Bush if, when he hands over the presidency in 2009, Social Security and Medicare are heading for a crash; the national debt is out of control; bin Laden is still hatching plots in the hills of Pakistan; and the situations in Iraq, Iran and North Korea have shown no improvement.