OLD DOGS DON'T WANT TO LEARN NEW TRICKS
By
Dr. W.R. Marshall, Ph.D
March 15, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
It would seem the slick has come off �Slick Willie� Clinton.
Way back in Iowa, his stump speeches for his wife were oft times concerned with...well...him. Lots of �I's� rather than �she's,� mentions of his legacy, his polls.
Shortly after that, he took a little center-stage snooze at a gathering commemorating Martin Luther King at the Covenant Baptist Church in Harlem. While the great champion of Civil Rights was being honored, the ex-Prez caught a little shut-eye right.
In South Carolina, with his wife already playing catch-up, Bill threw out the Jesse Jackson/Barack Obama comparison. Maybe the former Chief Executive forgot how racially charged Jackson's name can be...maybe.
Then, quite suddenly, Bill disappeared. We didn't see him as often on the tube, we didn't hear about him in the paper. When he finally did resurface, he said stuff like:"If she wins Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee. If you don't deliver for her, I don't think she can be. It's all on you."
He threw down the gauntlet there, didn't he.
Not something you really want to do on national television�at least not if you want to have other options. At the time, considering Obama's string of eleven straight victories, it might seem like Bill was going �all-in� for his wife, with his wife's money, even though his wife wasn't at the table.
In Thomas DeFrank's book, "Write It When I'm Gone," Gerald Ford said Bill Clinton was �the best pure politician he'd ever been around.� This is Gerald Ford talking, not some one-termer from some recently gerrymandered district in east nowhere. Gerald Ford was a major player in D.C. for more than thirty years. He was in Congress for twenty-five, Minority Leader for eight, Vice President and President. Ford knew knew everyone; Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Everett Dirkson�it was like hanging out with the 1927 Yankees.
In the grand scheme of things being called �the best pure politician� may not be something you'd want on your resume, (although, in hindsight, it should have been something the Bush people looked for in addition to �blind obedience� and �lack of interest in the law�), but when it comes from a guy like Ford, you have to pay attention.
We are left with this question: How does the best pure politician of the last several generations, make so many mistakes in an arena which is nothing if not pure politics?
He doesn't.
He's Bill Clinton.
His way of running campaigns is legendary. He invented the War Room. He got caught with his pants down�literally�and beat the wrap. They make movies about him. He doesn't make mistakes.
Then why the screw-ups?
Simple: He doesn't want Hillary to win.
I don't think it has anything to do with being the �First Man.� It would be far too easy to make it about Bill sublimating his ego and standing behind Hillary as she becomes the most powerful person in the world. (Although HU Jintao and Vladimir Putin might have something to say about that.)
And it's not about the perks. I doubt he's payed for a meal or a suit or a round of golf in years.
No, it's the scrutiny, the all seeing eye, and the fact that Hillary, should she win, will have the world's most sophisticate surveillance resources at her command:
PHONE RINGS.
BILL: (A LITTLE SURPRISED) Hi, honey. How's the meeting with Medvedev going? He seems like a nice fella.
HILLARY: Fine, just fine, Bill. How's the Tsunami rebuilding project going?
BILL: A-okay, darlin'.
HILLARY: So where are you now, Kuala Lumpur?
BILL: Well...yeah...it's the capital you know...
(LONG SILENCE)
HILLARY: Then why am I looking at real-time satellite images of you going into a whorehouse in Bangkok.
I don't think Bill can weather another term or two of that kind of full-time oversight.
So let's all give a break to the man who did so much for this nation, and when you head to the polls in the next primary, vote Obama.
� 2008 - W.R. Marshall -
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