Carte Blanche
The term “carte blanche”, borrowed from the French, means, literally, a “clean slate”. It’s modern usage, however, usually implies full discretionary power and complete freedom to say or act as one thinks best. We (society) sometimes grant “carte blanch”, unofficially, of course, to politicians, celebrities and other VIPs whose virtues we wish to celebrate and whose faults we wish to ignore.
A penultimate example of such carte blanche involved the the forty second president of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton. There’s NO QUESTION that America KNEW that “Slick Willie” was a philandering cad that absolutely COULD NOT keep his reproductive organs within the confines of his pants. America KNEW about the “bimbo eruptions” that popped up during his candidacy like mushrooms after the rain. America KNEW that Gennifer Flowers, Juanita Broderick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey were NOT liars. America KNEW that he’d chase anyone or anything in a skirt. And America knew that Clinton’s “affairs” were not of the romantic type (with candle light and flowers afterward) but were instead sordid encounters with some of the women having been brought up to his room by POLICE OFFICERS! But, America (or large portions of it) decided that, “You know what? We just DON’T care!” And, by and large, this INCLUDED feminists and other “progressives”! In fact, one of the original and most vociferous feminists, Gloria Steinem, went so far, in 1998, as to write an editorial praising and exonerating him! Carte blanche!
Another great example involves our 44th president, Barack Hussein Obama. During his candidacy America KNEW that he had more than an just an acquaintance with illegal drug use (There were PICTURES of him with a joint in his mouth). America KNEW that he had a close relationship with “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright, a boldfaced racist with nothing but contempt for our country (Quote, verbatim: “Some say ‘God bless America’. Well, I say ‘God DAMN America’!)! America KNEW that Obama had a close relationship with Bill Ayers (who founded the Weather Underground, a terror group that actually BOMBED the US CAPITOL and the PENTAGON). But America, and especially America’s media, DIDN’T CARE. “Progressives” lined up by the boat load to lionize this charlatan and IGNORE all of these damning associations. And, amazingly, we went on to elect him, not once, but TWICE. Carte blanche.
Well, carte blanche can work both ways. During the run up to the 2016 election, America decided, once again, to grant carte blanche. Yes, we KNEW that Donald Trump had a narcissistic personality. We KNEW that he was juvenile in many ways. We KNEW that his tweets and interview responses were “off the cuff”, ill considered and injudicious. We KNEW that he likely had a promiscuous past. But, you know what? We DIDN’T CARE! We elected him anyway. This is partly because his opponent faired even worse than he did in many respects, but also because we came to the conclusion that the Democratic nostrums advocated by his opponent were not only ineffective, but were actually damaging America.
“So, Mr. President, as a self appointed representative of large portions of our populace, I hereby bestow upon you a unique honorific: CARTE BLANCHE. Mr. President, you can say what ever you want. You can Tweet what ever you want. Continue to remedy our Nation’s ills, however, and we WON’T CARE! We give you, Mr. President: CARTE BLANCHE.”