|
Jewish World Review /Feb 25, 1999 /8 Adar 5759
David Corn
What’s Next?
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) AT THE END OF The Truman Show, the whole planet breathlessly watches as
Jim Carrey’s Truman Burbank, who has unknowingly lived his whole life on
a television program, decides whether to leave the set and enter
reality. When he steps off the giant soundstage, the most popular show
in history is done. And in the movie’s last scene, a garage attendant,
who’s been watching intensely with a coworker, looks at his bud and,
without pause, says, "What else is on?"
There’s been much flipping since Henry Hyde & Co. skulked out of the
Senate empty-handed. The mopping-up will continue for some time. Judge
Susan Webber Wright, who presided over the Paula Jones case, raised the
possibility that Bill might be held in contempt for dissembling during
his Jones deposition. Kenneth Starr reportedly is pondering whether to
indict the President. He also has four cases to try, two involving Webb
Hubbell, one targeting Kathleen Willey’s onetime friend Julie Hiatt
Steele and another against Susan McDougal.
But the thrill is gone.
Even
MSNBC’s John Gibson, who unlike Keith Olbermann never seemed to tire of
Monicagate, was last week telling Larry Klayman, the conservative legal
activist who has filed 10,000 lawsuits against the Clintons, to hang it
up.
How to fill the void? Thank God for Hillary Clinton: What better to keep
the national soap opera alive. (Okay, maybe Clinton leaving Hillary for
Monica Lewinsky.) Immediately the armchairs were overflowing with
unofficial Clinton shrinks trying once more to divine the nature of this
bizarre marriage. Pundits, myself included, assessed the odds of her
campaign entry and success. There was much respectful chatter of her
chances, buttressed by pleas from the Empire State.
Adultery has been good for Hillary Clinton: Her husband’s caddish
behavior has won her sympathy, and embarrassment has given her a
political future. Most of what could and needed to be said about her
potential Senate bid was uttered within minutes of the story hitting
Zeitgeist Central: She’s never run for anything... The New York media
will carve her up... She’ll have problems being First Lady and a
candidate... The New York Post pleaded with her to jump in and, to my
surprise, its I-dare-you editorial appropriately zeroed in on the most
telling episode in The Hillary Show: the commodities deal.
Those of you who can think back to the days before Monica will recall
the 1994 revelation that years earlier Hillary, while first lady of
Arkansas, parlayed an investment of $1000 in risky cattle futures into a
net gain of $100,000. It was a wizard-like performance. It also was
quite suspicious. Before we learned that the account was arranged by
Clinton crony Jim Blair and managed by a firm with a questionable track
record, Hillary had, by way of explanation, claimed she’d picked her own
investments after perusing The Wall Street Journal—about as bold a lie
as could be. It wasn’t a misstatement or a slip of memory: A person does
not misremember something so memorable. No, Hillary was smothering the
truth—whatever it was.
The self-righteous defender of the children and
the poor had acted like a grubby yuppie, and she had not dared to expose
her inner-insider. From that moment on, she proved she was a scoundrel.
Forget all the Whitewater shenanigans, or her sellout of universal
health-care coverage, the commodites deal provides sufficient
information for rendering harsh judgment.
One, though, can hardly fault her for enjoying the Senator Hillary
blather. She didn’t start this media mini-frenzy. The "Run, Hillary,
Run" movement was launched when Sen. Robert Torricelli, who chairs the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, saw no Democrat who might be
able to defeat Rudy Giuliani. So he went shopping for a brand name. The
two men truly responsible, however, for the feverish speculation about
Hillary are ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the
retiring senator whose seat HRC is eyeing. It’s only because the New
York State Democratic Party is so enervated that New York Dems have had
to look beyond the Fresh Kills dump for a candidate to joust with
Giuliani.
When Cuomo was governor, he did little to build and bolster
the party. He led no effort to win over the state Senate. He developed
no bench. He wanted to share the limelight with no one. And Moynihan has
never been much of a party man—and by that I don’t mean party hack, but
a politician who nurtures a strong and vibrant party structure. Moynihan
hails erudition over organization. Chuck Schumer did oust Al D’Amato in
November, but that was less a sign of Democratic resurgence than
testament to the power of $20 million. For New York Democrats,
recruiting Hillary is a shortcut; they’re substituting celebrity for
party organization.
In Washington, much of the early and cheap talk held that Hillary would
win with ease. John McLaughlin tried to convince me that if she flees DC
for New York, Giuliani will show his tail and duck out of the race. But
what choice does Giuliani have? He’s term-limited out of City Hall at
the end of this term. He’s not foolish enough to mount a kamikaze run
against Gov. Pataki.
There’s not going to be room on the national ticket
for an abrasive, do-it-my- way little dictator. He can hope a Republican
wins the White House and invites him to be attorney general, but the
only way he can control his political future is to chase after
Moynihan’s Senate seat. If he lets this opportunity pass, he could be
frozen out of New York politics. Moreover, he can run strong against
Hillary. No Democrat can win statewide without whomping the Republican
in the city, and Giuliani remains the hometown kid. Last week—long after
Giuliani pissed off whoever he is going to in New York and long before
Hillary has submitted herself to the rigors of a campaign—her lead was
but eleven points in the polls. Remember, Bobby Kennedy had a difficult
time beating Sen. Kenneth Keating in 1964, and he was the brother of a
martyred president. Hillary is merely the wife of a louse and a
partner-in-lying.
I hope Hillary tosses her halo into the ring. What else is
JWR contributor David Corn is the "Loyal Opposition" columnist at New York Press. Send your comments to him by clicking here.