Reply #12: OK. You got me. I really wanted to put Bill Clinton in the spotlight.

[arendt]

It really took a sledgehammer to try to turn Dean into Clean Gene.
The post was really a stalking horse for a deeper content. Your
comprehensive response leaves me no room to debate.

I did it because I wanted people to address the "hidden hand" in
this campaign: Bill Clinton. By casting him into the role of a
"out of the picture" RFK, I hoped to put him into the discussion.

Does anyone here doubt that Clinton and Clark are thick as
thieves? Both from Arkansas, both up by their bootstraps.
Clinton appoints Clark to high military posts over the objections
of many offficers.

Admittedly, this is hard to decode, because the military couldn't
stand Clinton. They objected constantly. OTOH, why waste political
capital annoying the military with controversial appointments
unless its all part of a long-range campaign to "groom" Clark
for later office by giving him high rank and high visibility. Yet,
spinning it the other way, Clinton knew Kosovo was going to
be tricky, and he wanted someone he could trust running it.

But, anyway you spin it, these two guys are close. I simply do
not believe that Clinton does not favor Clark as the DLC candidate.
First, all the other DLC candidates are non-winners at this point.
I mean Kerry has toasted himself on both sides with his constant
flip-flops; Lieberman is roundly despised by the Dem base;
Edwards is simply too young and too hawkish; and Gephardt
is too union for Mr. NAFTA/GATT. So, it makes sense that the
DLC is still shopping for someone to "do" Dean for them.

It is not automatically an insult to say that Clark is being opportunistic.
He has a long history of dallying with the GOP and even the PNAC.
He was on the board of a company doing Homeland Security work.
Then he sees the DLC candidates shooting themselves in the
foot while Dean is cleaning up, and this lightbulb goes off: I could
actually get the DLC to back me, I'm a blank slate outsider with
unbelievably valuable military credentials, plus I'm tight with the
Big Dog.

Which brings us right back to Bill Clinton.

Does anyone think Bill is taking a vacation in Hawaii for the
duration of the 2004 campaign? Neither do I. He is playing,
as I said, behind the scenes. And, quite frankly, with the GOP
secrecy and now the DLC/Clinton hidden hand, is there any
honest, up-front campaign out there? No wonder people are
fed up with inside-the-beltway politics - its all codewords and
image and spin.

Who wants to talk about Clinton?

arendt