NEITHER
FORGET
NOR FORGIVE
'After such knowledge, what
forgiveness?'
T.S. Eliot, Gerontion
by sonya hammond
I find it both incongruous and offensive that immediately following Bob Packwood's resignation from the Senate, this criminal was eulogized in glowing, soppy, best-and-oldest-friend terms by fellow senators who dared to remind us that now that he was no longer a political embarrassment to them, we should applaud the many wonderful things a dissimulator can accomplish when he isn't wagging his tongue or editing his diary.
In an absurd declaration that calls to question her motives, Diane Feinstein was one of those who not only felt compelled to memorialize the career of a man forced to resign largely due to the efforts of her sister senator, but was somehow able to regard his resignation as the gesture of a 'perhaps great' man.
This generous absolution follows an alarming trend most blatantly exhibited last year at the funeral of a former president whose accomplishments were lauded amidst copious tears over the final departure of someone who, if he had been an ordinary citizen, would still be serving sentences for a variety of nefarious crimes.
Forgive, if you will, but spare us the hypocrisy.
If I were a California resident, and in spite of my previous enthusiastic support of her election, I would demand Feinstein 's recall on the grounds of seriously impaired judgment. Oregon's deposed senator is not 'great', and never was, despite claims of his standing up for women's rights ... No true champion of the causes of women would persistently consider them fair game for groping.
Packwood is not only a criminal, he is guilty of the cardinal sin of stupidity for believing that there are actually women who would be thrilled to receive attention from a man who, aside from any other consideration, has all the sex appeal of library paste.
Personally, on hearing a resignation speech in which he had the gall to emulate General MacArthur, I broke out a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and toasted the women who give new meaning to the phrase 'behind every "great" man there is a woman'.
And in this case Barbara Boxer and his victims brought one to his knees.
Salut!
©sonya hammond,1996