In
May 2015, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch was “shocking FIFA like an
earthquake,” according to the European newspaper, Das Bild.[1]
She was leading “an American-led takedown of corruption in FIFA,” the
Federation Internationale de Football Association, which oversees the sport of
football, or soccer as it is known in the U.S., globally.[2]
With great power comes resounding responsibility. When the head of an
organization goes after the corruption-fighters rather than admitting to error
at the very least in having presided over allegedly corrupt officials near the
top—and in fact repeatedly dismisses
calls to resign and not stand for re-election—the question becomes one of the
intractability of squalid power, as if it were defying gravity—at least that of
the ethical variety.
Sepp Blatter of FIFA, as if holding in all the bad news.
[1] Josh
Gerstein, “For
Loretta Lynch, A Stunning Debut on the World Stage,” Politico, May 28, 2015.
[2] Ibid.