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Living History: Hillary's 2008 Campaign Begins
By Tim Siggia
June 07, 2003
Put it on the record: I, Tim Siggia, have not read Hillary Clinton's book, Living History. Nor do I intend to. Not even if it is placed in my public library, where it has already been bought with my tax dollars. I have already read enough about it to know not only that buying it would be waste of my money -- too much of which already has ended up in Clinton hands, against my will, via taxes -- but that reading it would be a waste of my time.
What can Hillary tell us that we do not already know? That her husband was a two-timing louse, as well as a liar? That he in fact did "have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky"? That she was (supposedly) devastated by the revelations, but nonetheless stood with her man throughout and after the impeachment hearings? Does Hillary really believe that our memories are so short that we have forgotten all those heart-rending, tear-jerking accounts Hillary the Stoic Martyr, the Tammy Wynette of the White House? (Come to think of it, maybe she really does believe this, considering how short her own memory was during the Whitewater depositions.)
Just what is the purpose of writing a book about all this at this particular point in time anyway? Where is the need for the public to know? There's the obvious answer, of course: money. It seems nobody named Clinton can ever get enough of that. But considering the sales of It Takes A Village and that other book her Hubby Bubba took the $10 million advance for but somehow never got around to writing, there must be more to it than just cash for the ever-hungry Clinton pockets.
As I have said earlier, I have not read the book. I don't really need to. From the accounts I have read about it, as well as the previous treatment accorded Hillary on this subject, I know it will be largely a self-serving bid for sympathy and pity. "Poor Hillary," the readers will sigh. "That poor woman, what an ordeal she went through, and how bravely she held her head high throughout it all. I'm going to vote for her for president!"
Far-fetched? I don't think so, especially considering how adept both Clintons are at putting on masks for public consumption. Apparently, former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal doesn't think so, either, since in his own book he recalls Bill and Hillary bantering back and forth on the telephone on Aug. 17, 1998, two days after Hillary got Hubby Bubba's bombshell confession. Not that Blumenthal's all that credible a source either, but it lends room for doubt. What puts this into perspective for me and other like-minded hypothesists is the idea that the Bill & Hill liaison is not really a marriage in the sense that most of us understand it. It of course has all the trappings of marriage: the rings, the certificate, even the child. Everything but the basis. For what I believe the Clinton marriage actually is, and all the evidence suggests it to be, is nothing more and nothing less than a partnership for power: a contract between two equally ambitious and power-hungry individuals for the acquisition and consolidation of power. Dominion over the lives and destinies of others is what the Clintons have always been about, which is why Hillary in fact has never been really all that upset with Hubby Bubba's philandering -- she knew about it before they got married -- and why, truth be known, Hubby Bubba, a.k.a. William the Impeached, isn't really all that upset about the publication of this book. And anyone who thinks Hubby Bubba won't get a piece of the proceeds, assuming the book does sell as well as our unbiased mainstream media says it will, doesn't know the Clintons.
What Living History -- and any Civil War reenactor ought to be offended by that title -- really is, I believe, is Act 1, Scene 1 of Clinton Two: the campaign of Hillary Clinton for President in 2008. It will return Hillary to the high-profile, center-stage spot she loves so well. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Make-Up Department is busy at work retooling and recrafting the Hillary Image. Following the Dick Morris-inspired move-to-the-center strategy that worked so well for Hubby Bubba, we will see the emergence of a more moderate Hillary: a kinder and gentler Hillary, a softer and sweeter Hillary. A Hillary which will hopefully displace the more familiar image of the Ice Queen, the Dragon Lady whose favorite word in the English lexicon is the one that begins with "f" and ends with "u-c-k" (and no, I don't mean "firetruck").
It's as transparent as Saran Wrap ever was. But so was Clinton One, and the voters fell for that -- not just once, but twice. Let us watch the events as they unfold, and hope, in the words of the old song by "The Who", that "We Don't Get Fooled Again."
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