It's all about credibility

I wish this were The New York Times and I wish President George W. Bush would take a moment to read my column. I know I talk about beer and the greek system a lot, but those are his best memories, aren't they? I think he would enjoy living vicariously through the mishaps of us college students. But don't worry, for once those won't be the topics of this column, there is a bigger issue that even college students should care about.\nI must first disclose my Republican bias -- I would probably be the president's fan even if I didn't like his agendas or the way he climbed upon the ruins of Sept. 11 and swore to find the terrorists "dead or alive" just like those Western posters of his Lonestar heritage.\nBush has always had credibility with me -- even when his daughter Jenna got busted, when he was scrutinized for getting a DWI, and his knowledge about foreign affairs seemed impossibly hopeless. I saw him as the essence of America, with his genuine morals and conservative perspectives.\nBut credibility is important, especially for those of us on my side of the playing field. If the president starts telling lies then he cannot be trusted and it is hard to put the weight of a nation on someone who is willing to sacrifice the very standards he campaigned upon.\nMany scholars and analysts think politicians and lies go hand in hand, but I trusted the president as he stood beside the red, white and blue that America holds sacred.\nThis image of my president was shattered as he ran for cover with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld when The New York Times broke the story about the new military initiative, the Office of Strategic Influence.\nPerhaps the OSI is nothing but a bad memory for the president, Rumsfeld and the other Washington pillars. But to me, a southern girl deeply rooted in Republicanism, the fact that they would acknowledge -- let alone create -- a group that was intended to disseminate false information to foreign press to promote American interests is pathetic.\nWhile I can surely understand why secrecy and perhaps some lack of valid information in a time of war or terror is necessary, I cannot understand why it would ever be necessary to create a division of the Defense Department with the sole agenda of lying to foreigners -- both enemies and friends.\nIf he is willing to lie to the papers in Western Europe, what will happen if he stumbles in an election year? He might turn to his own backyard for a game of storytelling.\n The stakes are just too high and integrity has hit rock bottom. His aides are reportedly furious -- as if he had no involvement. But I know better -- his excuse of being oblivious will run about as deep as Clinton's claims of no "sexual relations with that woman."\n It is a sad, sad thing that the OSI got as far as it did before it was promptly squashed and covered for perhaps a chance at minimal exposure. \n It is even sadder that it has come to the point where credibility is almost nonexistent. American citizens are turning to Internet newspapers to find what they believe to be the "truth" in government and media, as the government and I, partners in the game of credibility continue to lose face.\nDon't disappoint me, Mr. President. I know that American citizens who value honestly and integrity might seem few and far between these days, but we are out here, voting and fighting for the way this nation ought to be.