The President's Friends

I watched the two-part Frontline production of "Bush's War" on PBS
this week. It was pretty good. I guess it was kind of a Frontline clip show, with segments drawn
from the library of shows they have done on the war. Still, it is
Frontline. Those folks could make a shopping list sound interesting,
especially if Will Lyman in narrating.

In any event, one thing became really apparent while watching the
show: When you elect a president, you don't just elect one person--
you elect the new president's friends, too. "OK," one might say to a
presidential candidate, "if I and my friends hire you to do this job,
what cast of characters are you going
to bring along with you?" That cat you see standing behind your
candidate of choice may just show up in the future as "Secretary of
Whatever," may have some ideas of his or her own about how things
should go, what things need to get done. And you know what? You did
not vote for that person to fillany post. Then again, of course, you did, if your person gets into
office.

I think it would be great if candidates would take a break for a
minute from the usual campaign rhetoric and introduce us to the
people we could expect to see if they are elected president. Don't
you think we have a right to know them, too? I mean, who knows where
they will lead us?