As I was having a late lunch today, I picked up my copy of the Weekly Standard and chance upon two excellent pieces on the fall of the House of Clinton. Tonight’s podcast guest Dean Barnett wrote on a thoughtful piece questioning The Qualifications of Hillary W. Clinton.
Dean gives Ms. Hillary the middle initial W because, like the incumbent she loves to revile, the only thing which distinguishes her from dozens of elected officals more qualified on paper for the presidency is her “surname.” Just as George W. Bush’s “surname made him the frontrunner,” so did hers. Well, in her case, the immediate past frontrunner.
While Dean has penned a thoughtful piece which I recommend highly, Noemie Emery, in her companion article, “The Natural and his Wife,” comes up with one of the best single lines on the Clinton presidency I have yet read:
How this [relationships between Clintons and Al Gore] played out is laid out in hair-raising detail in Sally Bedell Smith’s account of an administration and marriage like none other in history, and one that bred the highest level of dysfunctional angst ever seen in the White House–except for those moments when Richard Nixon dined alone.
I’ll leave it to others to track down John F. Kennedy’s reference to Thomas Jefferson.
As we prepare to watch Hillary suffer another defeat tonight, I highly recommend these two pieces on the Fall of the House of Clinton.
UPDATE: More evidence of the Clinton Meltdown:
Bill complains about the free pass Obama got from the press. Hmm. . . . what about all those free passes the MSM gave him time and time again. (Via Drudge.) (See, e.g., failure of talking heads to ask tough questions of Bill and MSM’s giving short shrift to Clinton campaign fundraising scandals.)
Like Bruce, I do find myself feeling sorry for Hillary, especially as she seems trapped into what appears to be a dysfunctional marriage. But, if it weren’t for the dysfunctional marriage, she would likely not have achieved the national prominence she has, received a 7-figure advance for her book, seen that book climb the bestseller charts and won a seat in the United States Senate from a state where she had never lived until after she had spent seven years in the White House.
Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be experiencing the fall she has experienced in the past few days had her marriage not helped her to rise as high as she had. Building on the point Dean made his piece, Hillary has no more qualifications to be president than such senators as Debbie Stabenow or Maria Cantwell, two women elected the same year as she who have hardly distinguished themselves since taking office. But for the surname which Bill gave to her (given the fact that she didn’t take it until after he lost his bid for reelection as Arkansas governor in 1980 and then only for political reasons, it might be more correct to say “which she took”), she might have spent her career as a law professor or advocate for left-wing causes.
I do feel for her having to suffer so in the public square. But, she did rise as high as she did in a profession where her personality seems more a detriment than an asset.
She chose her path, but had she not assumed she was entitled to the White House, she might not be experiencing the grief she faces today. But, then isn’t it only human to aspire for something we may not be able to achieve?
Ah, there’s the rub! We humans err and, hopefully, having erred, learn and move on with humility and determination.
Hillary may be good a picking herself up and charging back into the race, but she is distinctly lacking in the humility department. This affects the outpouring of grief and commiseration.
Oh, please! Oh my God. Hillary IS half of the dysfunctional marriage, Dan. Wake up. They’ve been in it together, from day one. Of course she knew about Bill’s cheating all along – and *never cared*, except insofar as it became public and thus affected their political fortunes. Which can only mean: Their whole “marriage” has been about one thing all along, achieving shared power.
It’s a huge mistake to think you know what goes on in someone else’s marriage. Is the Clinton’s marriage any more dysfuctional than any other White House arrangement, or were they just careless about what they did and said in front of people with loose lips?
Houndentenor, it’s a huge mistake to think that Hillary didn’t know about Bill’s cheating from, let’s say, day two. It follows: It’s a huge mistake that Hillary didn’t know about Bill’s lying from day two. It follows: Hillary was in on Bill’s lying (including “I did not have sex with that woman”, 1998). Still other things follow from that. Use your thinking cap.
As for “trapped [GPW’s word that I was responding to] in a dysfunctional marriage”… is she a battered wife? Doubtful. She’s a powerful lawyer and politician. In America. Golly, think she’s ever heard of divorce? She isn’t “trapped”; she’s half of the dysfunction. That level of dysfunction takes at least two.
So Jackie got Sam Giacana (sp?) to take out Marilyn?
Who did Jackie have on the grassy knoll? What was her connection to Oswald? And did Eleanor have an ulterior motive in her “carpet cleaning”?
It is difficult – let us say – to imagine Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Bush I or Bush 2 not only cheating on their wives with their wives’ full knowledge and approval, but even committing legal perjury with their wives’ full knowledge and approval.
And this time 10-15 years ago, I claimed it was hard to imagine for the Clintons also. But then the Clintons did it.