Monday, June 23, 2008

Retroactive Sympathy for Hillary

Regardless of whether he is remembered as a modern Achilles or just a vulnerable heel, the sight of Bill Clinton sulking in his tent before the November battle is not a pretty one.

As Hillary and Barack prepare to embrace at a Thursday night Washington fund-raiser and the next day in the cunningly chosen town of Unity, NH, the former President spent the weekend faintly praising the nominee-to-be's energy policy and pretending not to hear reporters' question about when he will making his own Obama endorsement.

Bill Clinton's petulance now evokes sympathy for what his wife must have put up with for decades, a self-centeredness that makes Joe Klein's "Primary Colors" seem understated.

If she has the maturity to deal with her disappointment, the least he could do is hide his own and his resentment that Obama's new politics may eclipse his tenure.

As he does his Achilles impersonation, Bill Clinton would do well to crack open a copy of "The Iliad" and look at Agamemnon's advice:

"(T)hough our hearts be sore,
Still let us school our angry spirits down.
My wrath I here abjure; it is not meet
It burn for ever unappeas'd."

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I so love reading your blog
Kandis