Tom "Obi Wan" DeLay.

We all remember the movie “Star Wars” and the climactic light saber duel between Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi. Vader tells his nemesis “Your powers are weak, old man.” Obi Wan replies “You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

Moments later, Obi Wan supposedly surrenders and thus allows himself to be slain by Darth Vader. As the movie concludes, we realize his alleged demise was all part of a greater plan. While Obi Wan is no longer present physically he communicates with Luke Skywaker in sort of a “behind-the-scenes” fashion. It is that “omnipresence” that assists Luke in destroying the evil empire’s dreaded “Death Star.”

For over a year now we have heard ad nauseam the alleged ethical problems facing former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Instead of coming up with an actual agenda, Congressional Democrats have waged a tireless campaign to smear DeLay and have him removed as majority leader. The Democrats were essentially telling DeLay that his powers were weak.

A while back, House Republicans instituted a rule that if their leader is indicted, that leader (in this case, DeLay) would step down immediately. The Democrats did not need proof of an actual crime (since there wasn’t any crime to begin with), they merely needed an indictment. Enter Ronnie Earle, king of fraudulent indictments. DeLay was indicted last year and, as a result, stepped down as majority leader. Then earlier this week, he announced he would not seek re-election in November. It appeared a move of surrender, much like it did with Obi Wan Kenobi.

However, also in the motif of Obi Wan, DeLay actually left on his own terms. It may not have appeared that way to his detractors. But in an interview done yesterday on “The Rush Limbaugh show”, DeLay said he could actually be more effective in other areas.


"I think I could have won (re-election in November), but it struck me that I can fight in another arena and still hold the seat for the Republicans. Now I feel totally liberated. I'm going to be out there talking about the conservative agenda. I'm going to be working very hard to get rid of the federal tax code and replace it with the FairTax. I want to continue my effort to hold the judiciary accountable. There's just a lot of great things I could be speaking out about, and I could not do that. I'm going to work very hard to elect Republicans to carry the conservative cause."


As Luke Skywalker was maneuvering against time to destroy the Death Star, he heard Obi Wan’s voice saying “Use the force, Luke.”

I can absolutely imagine the sound of DeLay’s voice in the head of new majority leader John Boehner (R-OH).

“Abolish the IRS, John”