Plenty of Blame

In his column today, Frank Rich pointed something out that I think us liberals would do well to remember.  President Obama’s inauguration speech was not only a statement of his intent to make some changes, to rectify some of the mistakes that his predecessor made, but

Obama wasn’t just rebuking the outgoing administration. He was delicately but unmistakably calling out the rest of us who went along for the ride as America swerved into the dangerous place we find ourselves now.

Indeed. Although I would point out that it may be hard for people who didn’t vote for Bush, who criticized his every move, to feel especially responsible for the actions taken in our name–especially in the foreign policy arena. Nevertheless, point taken: fix the country first, complain about Bush later.

Of course, that being said, it’s still the case that Bush and his associates must face consequences for their war crimes, their perjury and obstruction of justice.  Many ideas are being floated to deal with this, but something must be done.  It would be unacceptable for such crimes to go unpunished.