Next 'vast conspiracy' is headed Bush's way

As things go in our society, President Bush and those who surround him had better get ready to do the Whitewater Walk. That is what time it is, and that is the way it is. One cannot avoid it when certain kinds of questions are raised, rightly or wrongly.

The questions at the moment have to do with whopping profit-making Bush did a decade ago when he sold his stock in Harken Energy, the dubious accounting practices Vice President Cheney employed when he was head of Halliburton Co. and the ties both men have had to disgraced executives at places like Enron. Does all this not cry out for an investigation at least as elaborate as the one former President Bill Clinton was put through over his Whitewater fiasco?

The Whitewater Walk has been called many things throughout our history. It is the rite of casting out demons. We usually refer to it with the term, "Throw the rascals out," based on the power of the polling booth.

No category of humanity is sealed tight against one of its own being a crook: Anybody can do some skimming; anybody can turn in false records. Trust no one. Better: Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. As the Catholic Church has proved, failing to keep a watchful eye can lead to heartbreaking abuses of power.

Money, of course, is a special kind of power. It makes the world go round. It influences the speed of the turning. It can slow the turning toward prosperity or put the world into the tempo of poverty after a heady boom — blues-speed.

We are in a lowdown dirty-blues speed, both at home and abroad, all due to unscrupulous spinning. Bad guys in expensive suits. There it is.

Everybody knows it.