Presidential Elections and other Stories in the Meat Market
I admit that I don't get the continued appeal of Bill Clinton. We say this as
Mr. Clinton moves through California in an attempt to rally support for the
hapless Gray Davis.
He orchestrated one
the more egregious bubbles in recent memory in the late 90's. It is ironic that the
bubble started just about the time he met his young harlot. When you think about it
there was a kind of justice being played out. At the beginning of the Clinton Presidency
it was well-known that a power struggle broke out between Hillary and Al Gore, the
Vice-President. Hillary won that struggle and took her husband by the painful parts
and led him into a drifting, advocacy area that was rejected by the people in 1994.
It was only after Hillary was humiliated by the health-care debacle that she loosened
her grip on the poor man. Then the competent David Gergen and the nefarious Morris
moved in to pull Clinton to the glory-hole of all American politics, the economy of
the middle-class. "There is the pot of gold," they said. And they were correct and
Clinton, a voracious political animal, rushed to the spot and rutted. And free of Hillary's
grasp he then consorted with the young harlot who, even at that moment, had books
and TV on her mind. And it wasn't the Leaves of Grass she was thinking about. The President must have been
feeling pretty good in those days. He must have been swooning. He had the dream-thrill
of every aging sexual animal. It's our humble opinion that the bubble began there and
just blew itself wider and wider until the people were in a dream state. All poets
understand the relation between the thoughts and feelings of the leader and the
effect it has on the people they rule. It's muted in a grand pinball machine like the
United States but the President is going to have an effect anyway.
"They were asleep in the pleasure of the Moment," some future historian was heard
to say. Yes, we were there, not quite asleep but not quite alert either. After all, no
one told us that we were at war with terrorists. And China was sleeping in the secret
chambers of the dreamed-out White House. And the CEO's and accountants were sleeping
with each other. And the Martha Stewart corn-pone was a mask for high-level manipulations.
And the dot.com millionaires are now washing plates at Joe's diner. And Joe is going to have
to work until he's 85 since his stock portfolio took a dive.
It's not all Clinton's fault but his character flaw was the social flaw; the flaw
of a whole generation. Pleasure in the Moment and don't think twice.
This is the mucky epoch we struggle from. It is an epoch that has buried
its dreams in the Pleasure of the Now. And even with the buildings falling, the
stocks plummeting, the CEO's indicted, the jobs lost, the confidence rattling;
Clinton is looked on with the starry-eyes of a semi-drugged population. At the very
least learn some of the lessons created by the bubble-era.
And we agree with his stance on the recall. And the current office-holder often makes Clinton
look like a genius. But, that's for another time.