In July 1294, the cardinals of the Church of Rome elected Pietro di Murrone, a Benedictine hermit of saintly reputation, to the Papal throne. The office had been vacant for over two years while the factions within the Church quarreled among themselves. The election of a man tied to no party and untouched by scandal reflected a spirit of hope and change. The vote of the cardinals was unanimous.
The new Pope took the name Celestine V. Within weeks, it because evident that his high character, unaccompanied by administrative acumen or knowledge of the world, was inadequate to the challenges facing the Church from within and without. In the words of the Catholic Encyclopedia, “It is wonderful how many serious mistakes the simple old man crowded into five short months.” Happily, he possessed the humility of a saint. On December 13, 1294, he resigned. He died a year and a half later and was canonized by Pope Clement V in 1313.
I would not say that we are quite at the point where the President could profit from this pious precedent, but the moment draws closer every day. When detractors complained that George W. Bush was “incompetent”, they meant that he wasn’t able to foresee terrorist plots, turn the CIA into an efficient gatherer of enemy secrets, effortlessly dampen the enthusiasm of jihadist fanatics, compel state and local officials in Louisiana to prepare for hurricanes, bring Iran and North Korea into the civilized world, or resolve conflicts that have fermented for decades. He could, on the other hand, find Cabinet appointees without tax problems and get through a foreign head of government’s visit without embarrassment. And certainly he didn’t react to 9/11 by putting responses to al-Qa’eda on the back burner in favor of plans for reorganizing the American economy!
The fact most noticed about the President’s new 60 Minutes interview was his weird affect, which led the moderator to ask whether he was “punch drunk”. But much else that he said was strangely disconnected from reality. Legal Insurrection caught some of the highlights, notably the ahistorical notion that investment bankers earned much less “just 20 years ago, or 25 years ago”. Let’s see. That would be around 1984 to 1989, a/k/a “the Decade of Greed”. Doesn’t this man know even as much as can be learned from movies? Maybe he should have given Gordon Brown’s DVD’s to himself.
The real world consequences of Presidential ineptitude became clearer last Wednesday, when the Fed threw its last reserves into the battle for the economy, announcing that it will create $1.25 trillion in additional liquidity and, for the first time since, I believe, the Truman Administration, directly monetize the national debt by purchasing long-term government bonds. This was General Bernanke’s equivalent of Pickett’s Charge. That he undertook it indicates the he and his colleagues no longer believe that there is any prospect that the Obama Administration will deal effectively with the paralysis in the credit markets. It won’t help that, while the Treasury Secretary is declaring that private participation is critical to refurbishing the banking system, his boss is excoriating malefactors of great wealth and the Demoncratic [sorry, a typo, but on second thought stet] Congress races to enact financial bills of attainder.
So far, Barack Obama is competing for last place in the Buchanan-Harding-Carter division of the Presidential league, and his downward velocity is breath taking. “At this stage in 1977, even Jimmy Carter wasn’t Jimmy Carter.”
The President has one great advantage over Pope Celestine. He is young and vigorous. He could step down from office, be elected governor of Illinois next year, learn the ins and outs of managing a complex political enterprise, and seek the Presidency again in 12 or 16 years, when he would be about as old as George W. Bush is now. It’s true that his leaving office would have a down side for the rest of us. I don’t look forward to 46 months of President Joe Biden. Similarly, Celestine’s successor was the distinctly unsaintly Boniface VIII. As so often in life, we must balance undesirable alternatives. I’m beginning to think that Blowhard Joe is the lesser one.
Further reading: Fred Barnes, “Five Signs of a Flailing Presidency”
You linked to Mark Steyn! Excellent choice. It would be amusing how quickly and overwhelmingly Obama is crashing in flames if it wasn't for the catastrophic influence on the real world.
Posted by: Ed B | Monday, March 23, 2009 at 06:34 PM