Sport-Blog Tom Hanson Pages

Waxman Now Regrets Political Baseball

Thomas J. Hanson — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:16:00 +0000

by Thomas J. Hanson, Editor, OpenEducation.net.

Some papers called the testimony dramatic. Others called it political showmanship. Those with a touch of reality and a willingness to be edgy called it sorry.

But sadly, not one of them called the recent steroid hearing in Washington conclusive.

Adding to this truly bizarre situation is that one day after the hearing, the committee's chairman Henry A. Waxman told the world he regretted holding the hearing. The California Democrat further insisted that he went ahead with the public spectacle only because Roger Clemens and his legal team demanded it.

Those words promptly sent the Clemens' legal team into near hysteria. Expressing complete disbelief at the Waxman assertion, Clemens' team insisted that they had actually tried to head off the public spectacle only to be rebuffed by Congress.

Meanwhile, those with an independent eye to the entire process expressed disgust as the hearing also devolved into yet another example of partisan politics. While Democrats clearly indicated their disdain and disbelief of Clemens, Republicans expressed the same sentiment toward trainer Brian McNamee. The independent view was that both sides of the Congressional aisle sought to pump their personal chests as they ridiculed the witnesses.

With Clemens a close personal friend of President Bush's father, George Hebert Walker Bush, the split along party lines further revealed the partisan state of Washington politics today. That split promptly lead McNamee's attorney to suggest that nothing would ever happen to Clemens anyway as the current president will step in and pull a Scooter Libby.

We stated previously that Congress had no business being involved in this matter in the first place. The proceedings simply demonstrated this fact publicly.

Steroid Mess - Simply Not the Business of Congress

Thomas J. Hanson — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:09:00 +0000

by Thomas J. Hanson, Editor, OpenEducation.net.

The recent polling data regarding our Washington leadership came as no real surpirse to anyone. First, President George Bush reached his lowest approval rating ever in "The Associated Press-Ipsos poll" on Friday. The beleaguered and lame-duck president received an approval rating of just 30 percent. He also received an all-time low-rating from his own party, falling to 61% within the GOP.

Yet, as poor a job of leading the country as Bush has done, Congress manages to fall below even his dismal approval rating. For Congress their number dropped another four points from January to an amazing 22 percent level. That tied the folks in Washington with the 22% approval rating the group owned in October (just before many lost election seats in November).

Ignoring the Critical Matters Facing Our Country

The dismal rating of Congress surely comes in great part from their inability to get meaningful things done regarding key social issues. For this writer the poor rating would come from their extremely mixed priorities.

Perhaps most telling is the continued Congressional interest in the baseball steroid scandal. It is difficult to understand why our senators continue to hold hearings on the issue.

Perhaps dragging in these potential steroid abusers makes some of these politicians feel powerful. Or maybe they like seeing other well-known people get dragged downward as they themselves lose their respective status in society. then again, it could be they somehow think that by trying to address the scandal they will increase their own popularity.

Whatever the reason, the choice to get involved makes no sense what-so-ever.

Adding to the nonsense is that the most troubling aspect of steroid fiasco is that major league baseball is the major party at fault, not just these players. When three stars, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, all bulked up to astronomical size and began hitting baseballs out of the park at phenomenal rates, interest in the sport went way up. As suspicion went up from outside the sport, those from within did little to ensure that these record breakers were legit.

The result was a system that lacked the desire to fully deal with the issue at the same time that big contracts, money and fame came to those who abused the system. Simply stated, because people could cheat and get away with it, some chose to cheat.

Add to that fact, that by choosing to make a spectacle of this issue, Congress furthered the notion that these professional athletes are deserving of such a high-level investigation. In other words, instead of taking the time to investigate a report that our President and his cabinet lied 935 times in total to get our country into a war of choice, Congress is tackling the lies and misbehavior of people who play a game for a living.

No wonder our children are confused today.

Misguided Priorities

With our economy in peril, an unwanted and expensive war continuing without any end in sight, and a current practice of borrowing money from our kids to fund today's mixed, Congress in fact has far more important issues to take up. Their failure to address those issues essentially indicate those matters are beyond their ability to solve.

In contrast, the steroid scandal is easy. It is black and white. Because wrong is easily defined and it does not take great insight nor is it difficult to obtain bipartisanship, Congress instead spends its time on Major League Baseball's steroid issue.

These people were elected for a different role. Because that role is one they appear unable to handle, Congress finds its approval rating than even lower than the rating of one of the most unpopular presidents in American history.

New Featured Writer

Site Editor — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Sport-Blog.com is excited to announce the addition of Tom Hanson as a featured writer. Check back often for great sports related commentary from this talented writer.