The resignation of Alberto Gonzales and the media’s post mortem
The New York Times and other publications have been quick to jump on the unexpected resignation slant of the Alberto Gonzales story. As you may already know, Attorney General Gonzales called President Bush on Friday to offer his resignation. Bush obviously accepted because it will help buoy what little hope he has of getting stuff done before January 2009 comes around. I don’t think anyone who observes the political scene is surprised by Gonzales’ resignation or its timing.
Gonzales has let tempers cool a bit in Congress before making the inevitable move out of the door. His obfuscation in answering questions from U.S. senators over the past few months has led to a number of legal procedures designed to get past the murk. The argument over subpoenas for Justice Department officials between the White House and Congress have raged but the singular hatred of Gonzales has died down a bit. Gonzales moved into a group of people like Bush, Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who are scorned from a wide range of people but seem to deflect this criticism with supreme ignorance.
The Lede, a blog on the New York Times, highlighted the prevailing wisdom in the press this morning that Alberto Gonzales’ resignation was unexpected. It is unsurprising that Gonzales let the tide sweep over his entire department instead of taking the blame early in the process. The next attorney general will likely fall into the Ashcroft-Gonzales camp of legal experts without the fundamental civil libertarian views necessary to run the nation’s legal department. This person will only get about a year to do their damage so America needs to press for continued coverage of Justice Department issues in the meantime. While I disagree with the immediate post-mortem on Gonzales’ decision, I do feel that the press has done a fine job of covering the surveillance and wire tapping program.
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