WTF Is It Now?!?

The political implications of the Wall Street scandals

[T]he President's personal standing is doing his party no good. When it comes to voting intentions in the congressional election, as opposed to patriotic expressions of support for the Commander in Chief, the stalemate in public opinion today is exactly the same as it was in the 2000 election.

By weakening Mr Bush, discrediting the US economic model and undermining America's moral authority, these scandals will confirm a trend which began with the Axis of Evil speech and Mr Bush's over-enthusiastic embrace of Ariel Sharon. By threatening to go to war against countries which have never attacked the United States, and boasting about his power to dispose of any political regimes not to his liking, Mr Bush has lost the respect of both America's military enemies and its allies. Now the loss of international respect for the United States is moving a step further.

America has forfeited its global military leadership by blustering against President Saddam Hussein and failing to curb Mr Sharon. It has forfeited its global diplomatic leadership by abrogating treaties on climate change and criminal justice. It has forfeited its global economic leadership by protecting its steel companies and increasing subsidies to farmers. Now America is forfeiting its global business leadership by failing to enforce proper financial practices and ethical standards. This loss of American leadership will probably be the most enduring legacy of the scandals on Wall Street. - - Read more at the Times Online (thanks to TAPPED for the link).

Would be nice to think so. Unfortunately, if the current yeah-whatever yawner over Enron is any example, the latest scandals will go absolutely nowhere in the annals of voter rage. The entire mess will turn out to be another nonevent that may get a half-hearted cry of 'partisan politics!' before crawing away and dying at the sound of 'war on terra!'. .