The 2016 number 1 draft pick: James Comey

By now everyone’s familiar with America’s latest get rich quick scheme, Draft King and Fan Duel. They offer the gullible the opportunity to combine fantasy football with gambling. They hold out the false promise of free money. Some of their ads close with the line, “Get off the sidelines and get some.”

There are lessons to be learned if we apply the evanescent appeal of Draft King and Fan Duel to the unfolding race for the presidency next year. Maybe we ought to avert the coming disaster by drafting someone for the job instead of sitting back and accepting the inevitable train wreck that’s headed our way.

It’s increasingly clear that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. For the Republicans Donald Trump continues to be the frontrunner by a wide margin.

What’s worse is that the election of either of these two individuals guarantees the continuation of gridlock in Washington. In order to win, Clinton will of necessity be forced to support most of President Obama’s policies. Doing otherwise puts at risk the African-American and Hispanic votes she must have. If elected, she will certainly face a Republican House of Representatives that will thwart her every move. The Republican radicals, who will continue to control the House, will morph from Obama hatred to Hillary hatred.

If Trump is elected, virtually all of his major initiatives will flame out in the Senate. There is no chance that the Republicans will have the 60 votes necessary to prevent the Democrats from using the filibuster to turn the Senate into a Trump graveyard.

Although time is short, it’s not too late for the American people to rise up and draft a candidate who’s qualified, and who can end gridlock. His name is James Comey. As you may know, he is the director of the FBI, was appointed by President Obama, and is a Republican.

Here’s what you probably don’t know. And it’s what sets Comey apart from the two stooges described above.

In March 2004 Comey was acting Attorney General because his boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, lay gravely ill in George Washington Hospital. Comey had temporarily suspended President George W. Bush’s domestic spying program because he and other officials at Justice believed parts of the program were illegal, especially those respecting the enormous data mining operation that ultimately were exposed years later when Edward Snowden released classified information from the National Security Agency.

On his way home on the evening of March 10, 2004 Comey learned that White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card were on their way to the hospital with the intention of having Ashcroft overrule Comey and reauthorize the covert program. Comey immediately called FBI Director Robert Mueller and asked him to join him at the hospital. Think of this meeting as a shootout at the O.K. Corral.

At Ashcroft’s bedside Gonzales and Card attempted to do just what Comey anticipated. But Ashcroft would have none of it. Moreover, he pointed out to them what they were requesting was impossible because the powers of the Attorney General had been transferred from him to James Comey.

Shortly thereafter a furious Andrew Card called Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately. Comey complied, but he took the Solicitor General of the United States, Ted Olson, with him as a witness. There they met with Card and Gonzales.

The next day the program was reauthorized even though the Justice Department had not attested to its legality. At that point Comey wrote his letter of resignation. It quickly became apparent that FBI Director Mueller and John Ashcroft were also going to resign.

Two days later the firestorm was averted when President Bush met with Comey one-on-one. In that meeting President Bush authorized the Justice Department to put the program on a sound legal basis, which is exactly what Comey then did.

It’s no wonder that when President Obama nominated Comey to head the FBI in 2013 he said Comey was a man of “fierce independence and deep integrity.”

Those are the qualities we need in a president. They are qualities that can’t be faked.

When you vote in your presidential primary, whether it is a Republican Primary or a Democratic Primary, write in Promo Code: Comey, that’s: Comey. Get off the sidelines, and put your country back on track.

LeRoy Goldman lives in Flat Rock and can be reached at: EmailMe