It's too early to know for sure, but it's beginning to look like what we may have here is actually a successful working of the campaign finance system. Here we have a company which paid lavishly to support politicians on both sides of a close election. They hired a lobbyist that used to be the top advisor for the Democratic VP candidate, who is also the Senator leading the investigation. They gave lots of money to the Republican ticket, to the Attorney General, and others.
And when things started to look bad, they pulled all those strings they had bought and paid for, looking for favors, help, influence, anything to help out in a desperate situation. And so far it appears that what they got, from both sides, was nada.
Now it may come out later that some politician did try to help, or did do something inappropriate. It is too early to draw conclusions here. But so far the only guilt that has been cast by the media is guilt by association, on both sides of the political spectrum. And on closer scrutiny, Enron's association with these politicians didn't help at all when the dark hour came.
Might this end up being viewed as a triumph of the political system? Stay tuned. |
