When he is king…who will be the first against the wall?

Given the extreme polarization between America’s two political parties over the last 12 years, I often wonder if Obama (as president) would hold accountable Harriet Miers, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzalez, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the myriad other progenitors of nefarious neoconservative political pogroms. Would there be a wave of vindictiveness to get payback for the 2000 Florida shenanigans? Swiftboating? Ken Starr? The U.S. attorney scandal? The Energy Taskforce scandal? Valerie Plame? Frankly, there is no shortage of viable targets at which the democrats could take aim if they regained control of the White House (and kept control of congress).

Part of me, however, worries that any such Democratic retribution would smack of the same overly zealous and reprehensible Republican policies that have so paralyzed our government, and divided this country. Despite the bitterness I still feel, and the anger that must surely well in the hearts of many of the democratic party’s older guard, maybe Obama will actually follow through on what now is a bitterly ironic reminder of George W. Bush, the candidate: being a “uniter” not a divider.

Bush didn’t succeed at much during his tenure, but he did succeed in creating one of the most hostile political environments this country has seen since Aaron Burr silenced his most famous critic 204 years ago in Weehawken, NJ. I won't be bitter if Obama aspires to repairing the damage rather than adding to it. But if the Dems are intent on holding the current administration accountable, I hope Cheney is the first against the wall.