The Blame Game

On almost every Sunday morning television talk show this last weekend, Democratic members of Congress and personnel from Obama's Administration made sure they laid blame on the Bush Administration and on Wall Street's greed for the economic mess that they have "inherited". Obama, himself, had made sure that he used the "I-word" ("Inherited") every time he got his face in front of the cameras last week.

But, if Bush is so at fault, why aren't there any hearings or investigations being conducted to determine "what" he and his Administration did to create such a mess. Shouldn't we know the how's and the why's that caused us to get to this point? Certainly, by bringing those facts to light, old laws could be changed and new ones written to avoid this from ever happening again.

But, nothing has happened or is happening; and that's amazing to me. This is the same Democratic Congress that has investigated almost everything that the Bush Administration has done over the last 8 years. They are currently dragging Karl Rove and Harriet Miers in front of a Congressional hearing to publicly flog them over the firing of a few attorneys in the Justice Department (See Full Story). But, when it comes to a whole nation that is losing their jobs and their homes, there are no hearings or special investigations. What gives?

I think that there are no hearings being conducted because those hearings would show that the Democrats, at the very least, are complicit in creating this economic disaster. Maybe, even, exclusively at fault. I think, too, that hearings are being avoided because some past Democratic Presidents, like Carter or Clinton, could be implicated.

Because the housing collapse and subsequent recession occurred under Bush's watch, it is politically more expedient to use the "blame game" to attach the blame to Bush without possibly getting yourself dirty through actual hearings. As long as there isn't any public outcry to have investigations, the Democrats can only assume that the "blame game" will continue to work for their benefit.

My guess is that there will never be any hearings. The Democrats will, out of self preservation, avoid them at all cost and they are the ones in control. The only way we will actually find out what happened will be through years of independent analysis and through various forms of investigative journalism.