small town boy


Subject: small town boy
From: Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Date: Wed Mar 08 2000 - 03:18:27 EST


    When I called Clinton a huckster I was not thinking
    of his modest start. It was what we saw AFTER he
    entered the White House.
    
    Inevitably, what impinged mainly on my outsider's
    consciousness were the forays into other people's
    affairs - Haiti, Israel, Ireland, the Balkans & the rest
    - which were all hailed as the deus ex machina; but
    which have left matters quite unchanged or rather
    worse.
    
    Again speaking as an outsider, I could not see what
    he had accomplished at home either. (If the great
    prosperity was the work of any individual it was,
    apparently, Alan Greenspan.) What else was there,
    apart from the handful of measly items such as those
    listed by Sean?
    
    But everything was sold with -a patently cynical -
    sincerity that left no sensitive stomach unturned.
    
    Everyone confirms what an extraordinary intelligence
    he has: compulsive, as Matt says, scooping up facts & ideas
    like a vacuum cleaner. Both Sean & Matt see this as his
    greatest quality. That is because they themselves are
    extraordinarily intelligent; indeed, the great majority
    of intellectuals identify with Clinton & provide all
    his best apologias. But you need a more than brains.

    I have no idea how to define 'character'. For me,
    it involves the way a particular personality brings
    about his 'effects' - & the quality of those 'effects'.
    FDR had it; Harry Truman had it in spades;
    that jowelly, unattractive Nixon had it. Is it
    conceivable even the know-nothing (but really
    very mysterious) Ron had it? If the Wall had
    come down on Clinton's watch can't you already
    see the grandeur of St William's Cathedral,
    Washington?
      
    Whatever it is, its absence is as obvious as that
    curious little pink potato in the centre of his face.

    Meanwhile, onwards with one of Daddy's boys.

    Where do you get them?

    Scottie B.

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Sat Apr 01 2000 - 10:11:39 EST