With this president nothing is ever second best, second worst, or ordinary. "This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" he fairly shouted on Twitter. What, not just the second greatest witch hunt? Somebody should have told him that being president is hard. Ask Bill Clinton. Ask Jimmy Carter. Ask one of the Bushes.
But there is hope for this still new presidency. It comes in the form of Robert Mueller III, a former FBI director who is now a special counsel overseeing the Justice Department's investigation of Russian meddling in the last presidential campaign.
As is his style, Mr. Mueller issued a brief and forgettable statement about his appointment. Something about responsibility and doing his best. That's his reputation in Washington. Unlike other former FBI directors, this man isn't a showboat. He's a cop. And he's been given a case to work on, and he'll do it without a bunch of TV cameras following him, thank you. (Quick, before he made the news this week, did you know what he looked like?)
In turn, as is his style, the president took Mr. Mueller's appointment personally. Instead, he should welcome the appointment.
How many headlines did you read last week that had the words Tax Cuts in them? Or even Health Care? Everything was Russia, tapes, Putin, foreign ministers, Comey, intel from allies, Flynn and contemporaneous memos. Moving all of that to a special counsel will allow this administration to move on to other things. Like those tax cuts, the health-care overhaul and even foreign subjects like what to do about North Korea, ISIS and Syria.
It's going to be difficult for any of the president's men (or women) to paint Robert Mueller as a hack looking for a reputation. He's 72 years old and already has a reputation: Members of both political parties say Mr. Mueller is the most credible law enforcement official in the country. He served Democratic and Republican presidents as FBI director. After the terror attacks of 9/11, some folks wanted to disband the FBI altogether because our G-men didn't see the attacks coming. Robert Mueller, who was on the job about a week before the attacks occurred, is credited for saving the Bureau and building the modern FBI.
After working throughout the George W. Bush administration, President Barack Obama asked him to stay on another couple years after his 10-year term expired. The man has bona fides.
Of course, Democrats would love for this special counsel to make news for, oh, about three and a half years. That's what the opposition does. It opposes. But the administration will have a lot to say about how long this goes on, too.
If the president and his people want this done in a timely manner, they can be more cooperative than other administrations have been with special or independent counsels in the past. And if there's no there there, as the president insists, this can all go away soonest.
There are at least two paths ahead. There's the Bill Clinton path, in which the president can send people out to disparage the special counsel, put up obstacles at every turn, debate the meaning of words, draw out the proceedings for a year or two--then call any findings of impropriety "old news." Or the current president can choose to do the opposite, and help with an investigation he already insists will lead nowhere.
As with a lot of things from the Bill Clinton file, he has given us a great example. An example to beware.
Editorial on 05/19/2017