Reflections on Card

Over the past day, I've been reflecting on the Andrew Card experience. On the one hand, I feel gratified that this was a profound expression of democracy: here were people free to express their revulsion at someone who was at the center of the [expletive deleted] Bush administration. At the same time, I can't help feeling that this is exactly the experience that those in Bush administration seem to relish: a chance to tweak the nose of the People and use Their institutions to empower and enrich themselves. Card still got his degree and, I expect, that he and his buds are laughing at all these "little people" and their impotent rage. Still, I believe the experience of pulling off the organization for this protest will be an important formative experience for many of the students -- and faculty -- on the campus. Too long, we've been willing to leave governance for someone else. It's clear that we -- all of us -- need to stand up, roll up our sleeves, and do the hard work necessary to bring these usurpers down.

On a lighter note, Alisa was looking at the picture of the platform in the paper, when the protest was going on and noticed a woman standing to the right of Card with her hands raised in an odd gesture. She looked at me and I explained, "Oh, yes... That was the sign-language interpreter for the hearing impaired." We wondered what she might have been saying to the hearing impaired in the audience or if she could even hear what was being said on the platform -- certainly no-one else could. Maybe she was saying, "Everyone is screaming -- I can't hear anything." Or maybe she was chanting along with the protesters "Honor Grads! Shame on Card!" One can always hope.