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Jewish World Review April 5, 2000 /29 Adar II, 5760

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Noonan: End Clintonism now


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- IN HER FASCINATING BOOK, "The Case Against Hillary Clinton," Peggy Noonan writes as a native New Yorker and a patriotic American, who is warning all who will listen that we must end Clintonism now.

Noonan, a writer's writer, sees the New York Senate race as "the battle that may decide the war" -- the war that will determine whether Clintonism will continue in America or finally end. For her, this isn't personal, but the stakes are quite high. "I wish her a long life with good health, much friendship, and many grandchildren. But I do not wish to see her succeed in continuing Clintonism in our national life." She definitely sees New York as a stepping stone for Hillary. "Don't fall for the one who only wants to use this place as a stirrup to climb her way onto a horse called the presidency."

But what is Clintonism? It is not a political ideology, but "the ethos, style, and character of the Clinton administration." It is about "maximum and uninterrupted power for the Clintons." Note that it is not about only Bill or only Hillary. Noonan does a masterful job of demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between the two. They are mutually dependent and enabling. They are partners in power.

Clintonism sees America as "the platform for the Clintons' ambitions, not the focus of them." They are the kind of people who pursue greatness for the sake of attaining fame and acquiring the label of greatness, instead of quietly achieving greatness by doing great things.

For the Clintons, any ends justify the means of advancing their careers. As a result, deception, abuse of power, scandal, smearing opponents and ruining perceived political enemies is their joint legacy. In standing for Clintonism, the Clintons "have made the American political landscape a lower and lesser thing."

Most interesting is a section where Noonan describes interviewing a longtime friend of Hillary's, a political ally who "had been inclined to like Hillary," but ultimately "couldn't." Noonan asked her to share her point of view, but instead she brought to the interview a psychology book on pathological narcissism that was a veritable case study of the Clintons. When Noonan protested that to describe Hillary as a narcissist was hardly an original observation, her former friend explained that this was different. She depicted Hillary and Bill as joint narcissists. "They have done a particular kind of mind-meld."

The lady described the Clintons as being empty and miserable apart from their power -- as people who derived their sense of self-worth from public adoration. That's the key to understanding why they won't just go away and leave us alone. They are hooked on adulation. "He cannot live a genuinely private life. Neither can she. So they must be in ours. ... Which makes their private plight our public problem."

Purchasing this book
-- linked in 1st paragraph --
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Noonan brilliantly interweaves her various themes in speculating about a scenario that may yet unfold. She suggests that Hillary, in order to curry favor with New York Jews, may come out in favor of presidential clemency for Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in the U.S. Her husband would then deny her request. This could play out in a threefer -- a three-for-one PR bonanza because she would win points in New York, Bill in the nation, and they could both thereby perpetuate the fiction that they act independently from one another. And we can be sure that they'll do it with a straight face.

Noonan views the Clintons as having severely damaged this country. Together they have used the office and power of the presidency to destroy innocence and idealism and institutionalize cynicism. Instead of using their position and circumstances to do wonderful things, they have degraded everything around us and have further debased our culture.

The author doesn't strike me as a frenzied partisan raging against the Clintons. To her, this isn't about Republicans versus Democrats or conservatives against liberals, but the Clintons against New York and America, the state and nation she loves. She seems particularly offended that "they forgot to be grateful to the place that had made them, and that ensured their rise. They forgot to love it."

"They have made their disturbance our disturbance; they have foisted it upon a great nation."

This book is a must read. Its message must not be ignored.


JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

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Up

04/03/00: Bush: On going for the gold
03/29/00: Phantasma-Gore-ia
03/27/00: Treaties, triggers, tobacco and tyrants
03/22/00: Media to Bush: Go left, young man
03/20/00: Stop the insanity
03/15/00: OK Al Gore: Let's go negative
03/13/00: Deifying of the center
03/08/00: The media, the establishment and the people
03/01/00: McCain's coalition-busting daggers in GOP's heart
02/28/00: Bush's silver lining in McMichigan
02/24/00: A conservative firewall, after all
02/22/00: Bush or four more of Clinton-Gore?
02/16/00: Substance trumps process
02/14/00: The campaign finance reform mirage
02/09/00: President McCain: End of the GOP as we know it?
02/07/00: From New Hampshire to South Carolina
02/02/00: SDI must fly
01/31/00: Veep gores Bradley
01/26/00: The issues gap
01/24/00: GOP: Exit, stage left
01/20/00: Nationalizing congressional elections
01/18/00: Do voters really prefer straight talk?
01/12/00: Media's McCain efforts may backfire
01/10/00: Conservative racism myth
01/05/00: Just one more year of Clintonian politics
01/03/00: McMedia?
12/27/99: Al Gore: Bullish on government
12/22/99: Bradley's full-court press
12/20/99: Bush: Rendering unto Caesar
12/15/99: Beltway media bias
12/13/99: White House ambulance chasing
12/08/99: Clinton's labor pains
12/06/99:The lust for power
12/01/99: In defense of liberty
11/29/99: Are Republicans obsolete?
11/24/99: Say you're sorry, Mr. President
11/22/99: Architects of victory
11/17/99: Trump's tax on freedom
11/15/99: GOP caves again
11/10/99: Triangulation and 'The Third Way'
11/08/99: Sticks and stones
11/03/99: Keyes vs. media lapdogs
11/01/99: Signs of the times
10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
09/15/99: GOP must remain conservative
09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
09/07/99: Pat, savior or spoiler?
09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
08/23/99: Should Dubyah start buying soap ... for all that mud?
08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
08/11/99: The truth about tax cuts
08/09/99: Hillary: Threading the needle
08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
07/08/99: Clinton’s faustian bargain: our justice
07/06/99: The key to Bush's $36 million
06/30/99: Gore: a soda in every fountain
06/28/99: 'Sacred wall' or religious barrier?
06/23/99: GOP must lead in foreign policy
06/21/99: Crumbs of compassion
06/16/99: Compassionate conservatism: face-lift or body transplant?
06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

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