Friday, May 25, 2007

Today's Washington Post leaves me feeling like Renault

Remember the scene in Casablanca when Capt. Renault responds with disbelief to the raid at Rick's? He says, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" Then he takes his winnings from the croupier and slips them into his jacket.

That's how I felt after reading the Washington Post's scoop of two upcoming books about Hillary Clinton. Quoth the article: "The Hillary Clinton who emerges from the pages of the books comes across as a complicated, sometimes compromised figure who tolerated Bill Clinton's brazen infidelity, pursued her policy and political goals with methodical drive, and occasionally skirted along the edge of the truth along the way. The books portray her as alternately brilliant and controlling, ambitious and victimized."

So Bill Clinton cheated on his wife? I'm shocked. Shocked! These infidelities hurt her? Again, I'm shocked. Oh, and by the time a woman reaches 60 she can honestly be described as complicated and multi-faceted? Shocked, shocked, SHOCKED!

I've heard some serious allegations in these books, and since they are from respected investigative journalists and not foaming-at-the-mouth conservative hacks, I will review them and take them seriously.

But except for the fact that I want to know what influence Bill Clinton will/won't have on President Hillary Clinton, I don't care about their marriage.

I have been in enough relationships to know that no outsider can really know what goes on between a man and a woman. And, in fact, it's not uncommon for said man and woman to disagree about what's going on between them. So even if the stories are reported by Carl Bernstein or Don Van Atta, I take them with a grain of salt.

3 comments:

  1. I never cared about their marital issues or problems either. I don't necessarily believe that Monica or whoever else had any impact on him doing his job. If I had to guess, Hillary probably doesn't care all that much anyway and that's between them.

    I've been pretty interested in the candidates lately, too. I really liked Bill Clinton. Right now, though, I'm getting a better "vibe" from Barack Obama than Hillary. I'm going to check out the books form the article!

    Jessica The Rock Chick

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  2. Mrs Duck was a raving lunatic Friday night when Chris Matthews devoted an hour to these articles on Hardball. While neither of us will vote for Hillary unless we have to (i.e. matched against Mitt Romney in the gemeral election) one thing that does not matter is their marriage or how influential Bill will be in the White House. She will be the president, not him.

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  3. Sparky, I respectfully disagree with you and Mrs. Duck. Bill Clinton's world view and approach to diplomacy is far bettere defined than his wife's just now (Is she a hawk? Who knows?). One reason to vote for her (beyond my passionate belief that it's time for government to become secular again) is to get us back to a (Bill) Clintonian view of our role as custodians and tenants of this fragile planet, not rulers of it. And since the Clintons have always marketed themselves as "two for the price of one," his role and his influence are very important to me. Who he has sex with, however, is not. Bobby Kennedy was an influence on his brother. Hillary was an influence on her husband. I believe we'd all be in a better place today if 41 was able to exert some influence on his son.

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