I agree, let the chips fall where they may. Its becoming clear this isn't a Bush scandal, though. Even some liberals are starting to see that.
A Time for Outrage . . .
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, January 15, 2002; Page A19
If you have been following the Enron story in the press, then you have probably been misinformed. You may have read that former Treasury secretary Bob Rubin called his old agency with a question about Enron or that several Enron officials have called the Bush White House. This might give you the impression that the collapse of Enron is some sort of political scandal. It is not. Instead, it's a (expletive deleted) outrage.
I grant you this is neither a political nor economic term. But it is known to most of you, although not, for institutional reasons, to much of the press or the White House. Journalism, like law or organized crime, lacks the words to express moral outrage. It can only associate, link, note some cause and then its alleged effect. So who called whom and why and when becomes very important. Only in this case, it isn't.
It does not matter that Bob Rubin called Treasury about Enron. He is the chairman of Citigroup's executive committee, and Citigroup had lent Enron at least $750 million. Rubin was merely doing his job -- as was the Treasury official who said thanks for calling. It does not matter that various Enron officials called the White House or some Cabinet department and warned that the company was about to tank. This, after all, was going to be the largest bankruptcy in American history and might have what economists call "macro" consequences. The Great Depression, for instance, was very macro.
No, this is not a political scandal. This is a cultural event, a systemic collapse, an outrage so breathtaking that we poor scribblers have no category for it. We do not know how to say "crook" or "thief" or "creep" in describing business executives who sold $1.1 billion worth of shares in their own company while -- possibly, allegedly and just maybe -- knowing that some $600 million in debt was hidden off the books. It was in nooks and crannies where even Arthur Andersen, the totally unaccountable accounting firm, could not find it. These executives also may have sold knowing that Enron had overstated its profits year after year.
Now let me tell you something about these sales: They were perfectly legal. So says Robert S. Bennett, a lawyer for Enron. "I am unaware of any evidence that supports the allegation there was improper selling by members of the board or senior management," Bennett said. But "improper" is a word dipped in Teflon, so slippery it flips out of your hand like a thrashing fish. It does not mean "right" or, bite your tongue, "moral."
The fact remains that these guys -- these pals of Bush and Cheney and others in the administration -- made money off a shell game. They sold stock backed by smoke. They cashed out, but when their employees tried doing the same thing, they blocked them. The stock went from $85 a share to 68 cents and the employees lost everything -- their savings, their pensions, their dreams of a comfy retirement with maybe a little boat on the lake. The big shots got the boat. Their employees got the lake. They can go jump in it.
All over Washington, the pundits are wondering how this will play out for George Bush -- how should he handle it? I have an idea. He could get indignant.
Bush could scream bloody murder. He could tell the Enron executives to put that $1.1 billion in stock sales into a pool for Enron employees who now have nothing. He could tell Kenneth Lay, the chairman and chief executive, to give back the more than $30 million he got in stock sales. He could tick off the names of each and every executive and then -- like Ronald Reagan at the Berlin wall shouting, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" -- he could say, "Mr. Lay, Give back the money."
But that won't happen. Instead, every agency in Washington will investigate, looking to see if the party of the first part violated section H of Article XII by, as it were, screwing the party of the second part. And all the time, your watchdogs in the press will be all over this matter, alert to the most heinous of Washington sins -- a conflict of interest.
But I am here to tell you what you already know in your gut: This is not a political scandal. It is not another Whitewater, where you can't figure out what happened. We all know what happened. A bunch of bastards picked the pockets of their own employees. That's not a scandal. It's a blinkin' outrage.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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