Guest Quarters: John Roach - May 8, 2008
I don’t always find myself reading a lot of political articles…especially with the abundance in an election year, it can make you kind of crazy…but heck…I like John Roach. Here are his words from the April 2008 issue of Madison Magazine.
Note: The words and opinions are not necessarily the opinions of the editors of Wickedly Chic or any of its entities or their spouses, relatives, neighbors or pets.
Clearly, Senator Obama is appealing. Young, handsome, full of hope, with a complexion that matches the face of a new America and the rest of the world.
He’s also a gifted speaker who satisfies a nation held hostage by eight years of painful mumbling, delivered by the worst Communicator in Chief in national memory.
Further, Barack has artfully circumvented the old guard by raising money outside the fat cat circuit. In a shocking move, he has actually appealed directly to voters to fund his crusade. And they have listened.
Meanwhile, Hillary has had to prime the pump with her own moolah.
You can only hit up Babs Streisand for a million smackers so many times until Yentl stops taking your call.
So what is it about Hillary? She enjoys the unique position of being remarkably popular and unpopular at the same time. The Simon Cowell of American politics. But why?
Let us ponder.
Could it be that all the Bill and Hill handholding is just a cynical photo op and that Hillary lusts for power far more than she lusts for Bill? That her smiling, long-suffering wife role in the face of Willy Boy’s unrelenting dalliances is more a Faustian deal than true love? As in…”Fine. Cheat all you want. But instead of a ring like Kobe’s wife, I get the presidency! Got it, Buster?”
Or is it because she smiles like America’s Mom, then ruthlessly kitchen sinks her opponent in ways that make Karl Rove nod in grudging admiration?
Or is it the way she balances her pants-suit feminism with the fact that she is running for president on equity borrowed from her husband? Who is a man! If we were really looking to elect a strong independent woman, wouldn’t it be Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi or Madeline Albright?
Or maybe I have a problem with Hillary because, although she is only a 1.2-term Senator, she holds that she has vast, superior experience in the halls of the White House.
If this logic holds true, then it should be just fine that the next mayor of Madison, the next chancellor of the UW, the next heart surgeon who angioplasties you, or the next pilot of the 757 you fly to L.A. should be the spouse of the person currently in that position.
Everyone cool with that?
Hillary also argues that when the call comes at three a.m., she is the best to answer.
First, it occurs to me that the only three a.m. call she received in the White House had to do with getting a stain off a dress. And secondly, if it really was serious business, Madeline Albright took the call. Or Janet Reno. Or Donna Shalala.
You remember those three strong women. They were the ones the Clintons shoved onto the White House portico in the midst of the Monica Scandal to offer one of the most demeaning and uncomfortable statements of support ever witnessed in American political history.
We are women. We are strong. We are mortified.
All of these issues could be the reason I don’t like Hillary.
But I don’t think they are.
I think instead the reason I don’t support Senator Clinton is her vain sense of political entitlement.
The smug attitude that it is her turn, and that everyone, especially that punk kid from Illinois, should know it.
During a New Hampshire debate a woman stood and said, “I am thirty-seven years old and I have never voted in a presidential election that did not have a Bush or a Clinton on the ballot. Is this good?”
I don’t like Hillary because over time, between the Bushes and the Clintons, America has managed to vote itself into a Trailer Park Monarchy. And no ma’am, it isn’t good.
If Hillary weren’t the wife of a previous president, she would be just another one-term senator. If that. If “W” wasn’t the son of a previous president, he would have been just another Texas governor. If that.
So why don’t I like Hillary?
I think I know. I don’t want another President by Entitlement. We just had one. How’s that going for us?
What I want is simple.
As best as is possible in American politics, I would like a president who is his own man.
Or woman.
Madison-based television producer John Roach writes this column monthly. Comments? Questions? Write john@jrpinc.com.
Madison Magazine – April 2008
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