Song and dance routine

For a moment, I thought Mennonites had infiltrated my Metro train in Washington D.C. Just after pulling away from the station, a group clustered in the back of the car broke into harmonious singing. Their singing filled the car like a hymn sing in Lehman Auditorium.

I would soon find out these were no Mennonites when they began to pass out copies of Lyndon LaRouche's latest magazine. For those of you unfamiliar with Lyndon LaRouche, he is one of the United States' greatest perennial presidential candidates. His eight consecutive attempts at the presidency, including the 1992 campaign he conducted while serving a prison term for conspiracy, have set a record for the most consecutive attempts.

Indeed, singing on the Metro while handing out literature is one of the more creative ways to promote a presidential candidate. Creativity is a necessity when trying to convince someone to vote for a convicted felon.

It would be nice to say Lyndon LaRouche is merely one of the more humorous members of the Washington scene: a man who believes a song and dance routine will make Americans disregard criminal activity.

A similar scene took place in the White House yesterday. President Bush, to show his interest in stopping the spread of AIDS, met with U2 star Bono. The scene is photo-perfect: President Bush in a charcoal suit and red tie, and Bono with open shirt and orange glasses. The song-and-dance routine is compelling. The fraction of a percentage of the government's budget to fight these problems is not.

Again, the nomination of Harriet Miers appears to be a step in the right direction for the country: the inclusion of a woman in a male-dominated sphere. In contrast, Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court is tokenism of the worst kind. White House friend James Dobson confirmed to a national radio audience that the Bush administration only considered women to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. The fact that Bush nominated a woman with little public record or qualifications only reinforces the idea that women cannot compete with men on a level playing field. Bush puts on a show of gender equality, but in actuality shows his bigotry in his low expectations for his female nominee.

Bush had numerous qualified men and women that he could have selected to be the next Supreme Court justice. Instead, President Bush chose his personal attorney that he patronizingly called a "pit bull in size six shoes." Miers has no record to debate like Chief Justice Roberts during his confirmation hearings. President Bush wants us to take his word that Miers is qualified as a committed Christian and accomplished attorney.

Bush's father engaged in the same act of tokenism when he nominated Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. Instead of selecting the most qualified person for the job, President Bush selected a man implicated in sexual harassment against Anita Hill.

Both Bushes selected token people that do not even represent the majority opinion of the minority they are implicitly meant to represent.

Organizations like the NAACP opposed Thomas' nomination for his anti-affirmative action position. Miers views, if it were possible to get an accurate picture of what she believes, would also likely be more in line with Bush's conservatism than American women as a whole.

It's a song and dance routine. Minorities are selected only if they believe what the Bush administration wants them to believe. Those suffering from the AIDS epidemic in countries in Africa are represented by an Irish rock star in orange glasses. And the unfortunate reality of any theater show, including our government's interest in social issues, is it all disappears the moment the music ends.