Newsweek’s [tag]Howard Fineman[/tag] argued that [tag]Ken Lay[/tag]’s conviction “marks another dark moment in the Bush era.” Oh, how I wish that were true.
If you want a date to mark the beginning of the end of the [tag]Bush[/tag] era in American life, you may as well make it this one: May 25, 2006. The Enron jury in Houston didn’t just put the wood to Ken Lay and [tag]Jeff Skilling[/tag]. The jurors took a chainsaw to the moral claims of the Texas-based corporate culture that had helped fuel the rise to power of President George W. Bush. […]
As Texas governor from 1995 to 2000, Bush and consiglieri [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] cultivated the Enronites for their vast connections and money; more than that, Bush linked arms with Lay in the belief that market forces alone should guide the production, distribution and use of energy. But the theory ran riot at Enron, giving license to corporate buccaneers who blithely screwed consumers, employees and shareholders alike. The old saying applies to Enron: you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
The Lay-Bush connections are overwhelming, and have been for years. It went beyond the president just giving the crook a nickname (“Kenny Boy”) — Lay was Bush’s biggest donor for his two gubernatorial campaigns; [tag]Enron[/tag] was Bush’s biggest corporate [tag]donor[/tag] in 2000; Lay made Enron’s jet available to Bush during the campaign; and Enron employees joked about Bush considering Lay to be Energy Secretary. (Indeed, the same Enron employees who were screwing over “Grandma Millie” blasted Dems like Clinton, who wanted to crack down on companies like Enron, as “socialists.”)
Even more importantly, those connections deepened after Bush took office, with Dick [tag]Cheney[/tag] meeting secretly with Enron officials to help shape the administration’s [tag]energy[/tag] policy.
But were yesterday’s convictions really the “beginning of the end of the Bush era in American life”? I wish they were, but I’m afraid I don’t see it.
As Ben Adler explained:
If Enron was going to bring down the Bush presidency, it would have done so a long time ago. It was a much bigger news story a few years ago when it broke. And remember, back then Enron was Bush’s largest donor throughout his political career. He still won re-election, and Enron barely even figured into the 2004 campaign.
The Enron debacle was one for the ages, and Bush’s connections to his friends who were crooks is further proof of the president’s poor judgment and “flexible” values, but the convictions were just a confirmation of a warped system gone horribly awry.
Fineman argues yesterday was the “beginning of the end of the Bush era in American life,” but given what we know, that moment should have come a long time ago.