Eric Holder is too good for America. He knows best -- he said so himself! -- yet this nation of fools and bigots, aided and abetted by a cowardly Congress, won't heed his word.
Such, in essence, is the graceless view of the attorney general of the United States. Because the public overwhelmingly opposed his harebrained idea of giving a civilian trial to the 9/11 plotters, and because even a Democratic-led Congress responded by blocking any money for a trial, Holder is forced to hold his nose and assign the case to a military tribunal.
At Guantanamo Bay prison, no less, a creation of the stupidly wicked -- or wickedly stupid -- George W. Bush. Oh, the horrors of democracy in a blighted land with blinkered people.
Although Holder belatedly made the only choice he had, America's deliverance from his arrogance will not be complete until he finds employment elsewhere. Hopefully, it will be in a nation that makes him proud. This one clearly doesn't.
Meanwhile, we, the dumb people, should appreciate the larger meaning of his Monday performance. Holder's crass refusal to embrace public will is not his flaw alone. It is sadly typical of the Obama administration.
No matter the topic -- war, peace, energy, health, taxes, justice -- their virtue is self-evident to all intelligent people, which is to say anybody who agrees with them. Anybody who disagrees is guilty of playing politics or worse.
Remember how President Obama called Republicans "hostage takers" because they wouldn't agree to his tax hikes last December? Even yesterday, he accused Republicans of a "my way or the highway" approach to the budget because they won't yield to him.
It is impossible to watch him on such occasions without wondering whether he is totally cynical or completely clueless about why he has failed to unite the country. Then again, he's an expert on "my way or the highway."
When Democrats had all the power, they rammed through law after law on mostly straight, party-line votes. The GOP was attacked mercilessly as the "party of no" by the White House and the liberal media echo chamber, even though it didn't have the votes to stop the runaway train of spending and borrowing.
The chorus was loudest on the war on terror. On Day 3, Obama signed the order closing Gitmo, part of his plan to redeem America from its sordid ways. He would open the gates and repair Bush's relationship with the Arab world.
The 9/11 trial in civilian court -- in the shadow of Ground Zero -- was a key part of the vision. It would prove that America was under new and improved management and that our system could provide full constitutional rights to the very people who sought to destroy it. Our nation, after a few apologies for history, would be beloved, and peace would break out everywhere.
Instead, we are now engaged in a third war in a Muslim nation, and that doesn't count Pakistan. This one was launched over the objections of most military brass, without public notice or real consultation with Congress, in a country that is not a vital national interest, even as vital countries explode with riots and talk of al Qaeda expansion. The media that hated Bush's pre-emptive war loves Obama's "humanitarian" bombs and missiles.
Against that unsettling backdrop, it counts as good news that the 9/11 trial will be held in a military court. And even better that it will take place in Gitmo, from which no terrorist has ever escaped.
Not incidentally, none of the good news comes because of Eric Holder and Barack Obama. It comes despite them.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist. To continue reading his column on other topics, including CBS and the Final Four, click here.
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