Originally Published As: Hoping change brings better days
Washington Square News
Aaron Leonard
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Well, the election is finally over — and we have a new president! Is it just me or doesn’t it seem like everything is going to be swell? Well, I’m not one to leave things to imagination, so I decided to hop the train to Washington, D.C., to get an idea of what kind of change we should expect.
As I exited Union Station in Washington, D.C., I was met by someone from Joe Biden’s staff assigned to show me around the White House. I noticed that he wasn’t wearing an American flag pin, which I found refreshing since this mandatory display of patriotism is something I find off-putting. Instead he had a button with the slogan “U.S Out of Iraq … and Into Afghanistan!”
“Nice button,” I said. “Are there any other countries you’re thinking of invading?” He gave me a dirty look.
Our first stop was Alberto Gonzales’ old office. Gonzales resigned after a bunch of hearings about spying, torture and partisan firings. No one has been there for a while, and the place was a mess. There were wiretapping transcripts everywhere, and a bunch of books and pamphlets were lying around. Titles like: “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques For Dummies,” “How to Keep a Straight Face In Front of Congress” and “So, You Want to Fire a U.S. Attorney?” I thought to myself, “Didn’t this guy have a staff to clean up after him?” I had heard they were a bunch of religious nuts, slobbering over the Ten Commandments minted out of the bizarre reaches of Regent University. Then I notice one more pamphlet, “Regent University: Let Jesus Staff Your Organization.”
We headed over to Dick Cheney’s office. Dick was nowhere to be found, but the door was open. I was struck by a picture of Galileo above his desk — I had no idea Dick was a fan. Then I saw the caption “Screw the Dialogue … Bring on the Torture!” Biden’s man was not amused, “That’ll come down. We’re going to get things back on track. The U.S. does not torture … we have people to do that for us.” I asked if he had ever read Galileo’s “Dialogue.” He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. Just outside the Oval Office, I saw a glass casing with a fetus suspended in liquid. Above it was a halo suspended by a wire, announcing it as a monument to the sacredness of life. I was a little taken aback and asked Biden’s guy about this. “We’re not sure where we’ll put it … but it seems worth keeping. You know President Obama has talked about teaching the ‘sacredness of sexuality to our children.’ ” I made a note to Google that quote. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “With that wording, it’s kind of like God is right there between the sheets with you. Maybe abstinence isn’t such a bad option.”
Time was running out as we entered the Oval Office. Sitting in this august room, I asked about what the new administration was going to do about the Iraq war.
“Well, I can’t speak for Barack, but Joe has always been consistent on this. He didn’t want to go into Iraq, but he wanted to topple Hussein. He supported Colin Powell’s case in the United Nations on Weapons of Mass Destruction, but he thought more countries should back us, but if they didn’t, he thought it be alright to invade as long as the President made clear we would be there for a while, but if we ended up having problems we would need to get out.” I looked at my watch. Biden’s man kept talking
There was a lot more to see, and though I was curious about the muffled screams and a leering, snickering sound almost like Dick Cheney’s voice that emanate from the door to the basement, I couldn’t stay — my time was up.
A lot of people think things are going to be different now that we have a new president, and I don’t think they’re wrong. Sure, my trip showed that not everything was going to turn around 360 degrees, but that is what they call “continuity.
A.J. Leonard is a contributing columnist. E-mail responses to opinion@nyunews.com.