Eric Holder's Role Models

Today's topic comes to us from, once again, the Fox News.com website and bears the title "Holder Frames Future at Justice with Portraits from the Past." The story recounts one of the difficult decisions that our new Attorney General, Eric Holder, had to make without guidance (a Newspeak term best defined as "being told what to do") from the White House: decide which portraits of former Attorneys General to display in his conference room. I quote:

"Upon taking office, Holder was able to pick any four to hang in his conference room, which hosts administration officials, foreign dignitaries and anyone else who has business with the nation's top cop. Holder chose portraits of these past attorneys general: Robert Jackson, Elliot Richardson, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Levi ...

"'These are all men who I think are good examples of people I'd like to follow,' Holder said at a briefing with reporters last week."

Coming from Holder, the man who recommended that his former boss Bill Clinton pardon Mark Rich, a fugitive Ponzi-schemer, tax-avoider, and general all-around fraud (but, via his wife, a major contributor to the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and Home for Wayward Girls) and who also called the United States a "nation of cowards" for not discussing race relations often enough to merit Holder's personal approval, these selections may give us a clue to what the next four years hold in store.

Let's take a look at who Eric Holder thinks are "good examples".

Robert Jackson: A prominent "yes man" in Roosevelt's New Deal, Jackson quickly rose through the ranks, where he earned FDR's appreciation for using the tax laws to "punish the rich" that failed to provide adequate campaign contributions to his boss. He served as Attorney General for 18 months (1940-1941) before being appointed to the Supreme Court in order to assure that no more FDR programs would be declared unconstitutional. Jackson was also the last Supreme Court Justice that did not attend law school.

Elliot Richardson: Here we have a man who was a perfect example of the Peter Principle. In the course of one year (1973) Richardson began the year as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (to January 29), Secretary of Defense (January 30 to May 24), and Attorney General (May 25 to October 20), when he was fired by Nixon (yet another lawyer) as part of the Saturday Night Massacre.

Robert Kennedy: Little brother of John and big brother of Teddy the Red Nosed Senator, Bobby got the job because of his brother and repaid the nepotism by upsetting the Organized Crime apple cart, which was probably a factor in why his brother got shot, which also led to Lyndon Johnson starting the Vietnam fiasco. Bobby was the second Kennedy to she shot in five years, an act that assured the election of Richard Nixon.

Edward Levi: The first Jewish Attorney General, Levi worked for Gerald Ford from 1975-1976 when Jimmy Carter put both of them in the unemployment line. He is best remembered for wearing ugly bowties.

In summary, Eric Holder has chosen to emulate the fine examples of 1) a predecessor (Jackson) whose legal philosophy was dedicated to finding at least some distortion of the law with which to justify the actions of the greatest usurper of constitutional power in the nation's history and 2) three others whose tenures in office were, to put it mildly, quickly forgettable. On the brighter side, the citizens of the Republic may take comfort in the fact that Holder didn't choose A. Mitchell Palmer, Janet Reno, John Mitchell, or Harry Daugherty.

Either way, it's going to be a long four years until Barak Obama leaves office in disgrace, provided that he can avoid impeachment in the interim.