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Rice will talk The Principal Principle: Coming Out on TopBy Rick Horowitz
Not that they didn't trust her, you understand. She is, after all, a fine and upstanding citizen, a public official of great distinction. An honorable woman with an exemplary record. That's nice. They still preferred to have Condi Rice in front of cameras this time, with every word recorded and made public -- not just somebody taking notes. And they really preferred it if, before she started talking, she raised her hand in the air and actually swore to tell the truth. Not that they didn't trust her. There are, however, some discrepancies. It was only a matter of time before they reached a deal -- the White House and the September 11 commission -- on whether the president's national security adviser would appear once again, and how publicly, and with or without the penalty of perjury hanging over her head. And now that they have their deal, you can bet your bottom dollar that the White House spokesfolk will declare that the deal upholds an important principle -- just as their previous position upheld an important principle. After all, principle is what this whole dispute is about, isn't it? The principle of separation of powers? The principle of confidential advice from confidential advisers? Of course it is! (And can I offer you some swampland?) "Nothing would be better, from my point of view, than to be able to testify," Rice was saying just the other day to Ed Bradley on CBS. "I would really like to do that. But there's an important principle involved here." So sad. So frustrating. So: Denied the forum she so craved, she was forced instead to ride the TV circuit, upholding principle -- and trashing Richard Clarke -- every chance she got. And she got plenty of chances. You'd think a president's national security adviser would have other, better things to do than to spend so much time dishing dirt with the media. The country, after all, is smack in the middle of a war on terrorism. Shouldn't she be writing a memo? Or reading one? Maybe so, but sometimes even a public official has to make sacrifices. Especially when there's -- drum roll, please -- a principle at stake. Funny thing about principles, though, or at least principles in politics: Most of the time, they wind up pointing in the very same direction the person defending them already wanted to go. It's strange, isn't it? I mean, just by the luck of the draw, you'd figure that a healthy chunk of the time, the particular principle this or that politician found herself defending would work to the politician's disadvantage -- electorally, economically, somethingly. You'd figure that -- but it would be wrong. Far more often, whatever principle the politician is defending just happens to benefit the person who's defending it. What a coincidence! The "principle" of confidentially, for instance, always seems to be invoked by people who have things to hide, just as the "principle" of openness is invoked by the people who'll benefit from uncovering those things, whatever they are. The "principle" of small government is constantly being touted by people whose profit margins go up as government regulation goes down, just as the "principle" of state's rights looks perfectly dandy to people who like what a particular state is doing on a particular issue, and looks perfectly awful to those who don't. Just as the Supreme Court, back in December of 2000, suddenly found all sorts of virtues in the "principle" of equal protection -- or more accurately, found just enough virtues, for just long enough, to shut down the Florida recount and make George Bush our president. Which brings us back to the president's national security adviser -- what about her principles? Here's how it played out, how it had to play out: Condi Rice was prepared to stand firm on her principles forever -- or until the president's re-election team decided that her stand was hurting her boss more than it was helping him. At that precise moment, her principles were shoved aside and an even more important principle took over. Winning. Posted 3/30/04. Support
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Rick Horowitz
