CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, April 23, 2012

Hookergate: Blame Bush

Given what his advance “party” in Cartegena, Columbia, was doing, Mr. Obama should have skipped his April 13, 2012, speech at Hooker’s Point, Florida. Inevitably, “Hookergate” is now part of the political lexicon.

According to the Old Testament, spying is the world’s oldest profession. See: Joshua 2:1 [NIV]. When Joshua sent two agents to gain intelligence about Jericho, the agents contacted Rahab, who was practicing the world’s second oldest profession which to this day is the profession of at least 21 women in Cartegena, Columbia.

Apparently, Mr. Obama’s job-stimulus plan extended all the way to Cartegena where your tax dollars created temporary employment for 21 Columbian women. Some of the Secret Service agents said they did not realize the women for whom they were providing temporary employment were prostitutes. They must have skipped the class on facial- and body-language recognition.

Eleven Secret Service agents and 11 military personnel are under investigation, some dismissed already. Everyone lost their security clearance. The alleged military miscreants include: five Green Berets, two bomb experts, two dog handlers, one sailor, and one airman.

Military apologists suggest the troops were under stress. Hello. Bomb disposers are always under stress. Maybe the dog handlers worried because Mr. Obama says he used to eat dogs. Probably least stressed were the crafty, savior-faire Green Berets who typically have: a divorce, a Randall Knife, a Rolex, a Kimber .45, a star-sapphire ring, and are skilled at working “undercover.” As for Hookergate, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey, said he was embarrassed because military personnel took the spotlight off of Mr. Obama’s trip to Cartegena. Hitherto Hookergate, embarrassing the White House has been the role of Vice President Joe Biden.

When the demand by Cartegena entrepreneur, Dania Suarez, for $800 was negotiated down to $225, late-night TV comedians suggested the Secret Service agent in question should be put in charge of our trade deficit. Coming on top of the $823,000 party thrown by GSA officials in Las Vegas, Hookergate prompted The Financial Times to editorialize: “The daily parade of details of incompetence and impropriety among Washington agencies accentuates the findings of a Gallup poll last year which found an alarming loss of public faith in U.S. government institutions.”

Recently, Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, noted a decline in the American character. For sure, things have changed. During the Reagan Administration, Wonder Wife and I had three occasions to work closely with the Secret Service and the Reagan-Bush White House when then Vice President Bush twice visited Lincoln, Nebraska, and once when President Reagan made a speech in Omaha.

The Secret Service agents and the political Advance Men we worked with were serious, sober-minded individuals who were all-business. The Secret Service agents were no fun at all. For one thing, they don’t have to be buddies with everyone.

Occasionally, the professional responsibilities of the Secret Service and those of the political Advance Men were in conflict; however, the Secret Service usually prevailed. The political Advance Men want maximum safe exposure of the President and the Vice President to the people. The Secret Service agents want the President and the Vice President to have minimum exposure to the masses. If they had not been so serious, some of the debates we witnessed were almost comical.

Today, when things go wrong, Mr. Obama often points his finger at former President G.W. Bush. Hookergate should be no exception. In the wake of 9/11, the U.S. Secret Service was transferred from the Treasury Department to the newly-created Department of Homeland Security where it obviously suffers from a lack of adult supervision. Blame Bush.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.

©2012. William Hamilton.

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