Meet me at post E4 on parking level 3...
It seems that the only person its really safe to poke fun at, when you're a politician, is yourself, or quite possible, an adulterous former president, but then again, maybe not
Clinton grabbed the mike and told the audience that the questioner wanted to know "what in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men." She then smiled, raised her eyebrows and nodded knowingly at the questioner.Her nod and the ensuing eruption of laughter had rally-goers convinced she was talking about her husband, whose Oval Office affair with intern Monica Lewinsky exploded into the Sexgate scandal and led to impeachment proceedings.
"She was talking about Bill being a bad man. There was no doubt whatsoever," said Tyrone Williams, 55, an engineer from nearby Bettendorf, Iowa.
His sentiment was the interpretation echoed by many other attendees interviewed by The Post.
"That was good," Williams added with a chuckle.
Later, during an afternoon press conference, Clinton deflected questions about the intended target of her jab. But when told that her quip had left the impression it was Bill, she said, "Oh, come on. I don't think anybody in there thought that. I thought I was funny. You know, you guys keep telling me, 'Lighten up. Be funny.' You know, I get a little funny and now I'm being psychoanalyzed."
Bill can't be too happy about the prospect of one more round of late night talk show monologues concerning his extramarital activities, but he's hardly in a position to complain.
On the other hand, if you were Bill, wouldn't you be asking yourself at this point whether having your wife run for president, much less win the office, is a particularly good deal for you? Obviously, at some point Bill saw an upside to that prospect, but might a botched joke change his perspective?
Clearly some of Hillary's appeal is an identification with her as a wronged woman. Her primary win, or general election win is going to be seen as vindication and Bill Clinton will be clearly diminished as his wife takes the center stage. One has to contemplate as well the possibility that Hillary will be a more successful president than was her husband--how does Bill feel about that?
For a guy concerned about his legacy that way Bill is, this is highly problematic. I have always been surprised that he seemed to be so willing to go along with it.
Could Bill be praying silently that Hillary loses?
If she loses, he gets all the credit in the world for being a modern, liberal, supportive husband without the downside of actually having to be the American equivalent of Prince Phillip.
I bet he's in the underground parking garage right now, feeding information to the Obama camp...
Posted by Mick Stockinger on January 29, 2007 11:20 AM
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