Oh, those brilliant/lucky Clintons

The Clintons have always been brilliant politicians, possibly among the most amazing in all of American history. Bill’s got a little narcissistic egg on his face at the moment after his recent over-indulgences on his wife’s campaign trail, but he’ll pull back and be fine in a few years when America once again remembers the good times under his presidency. He’s golden, so no need to worry about him – as a nation we apparently live to forgive him, and I say that as a person who’s lived long in that camp, and in regards to many things, probably always will. I admit I can’t quite get past the unsolved mystery of Vince Foster, but maybe I’m just a conspiracy nut. I’m sure all those crime scene photos went missing due to a simple clerical error. It happens all the time.

I digress, but not really. You have to admit that his death couldn’t have come at a better time for the beleaguered couple, at least as the whole Whitewater ordeal ended up playing out. No matter what the truth, now merely an unfortunate footnote in the storied history of Bill Clinton’s presidential legacy, Foster’s death caused Ken Starr and crew to jump all over its irregularities, adding to the confusion of an already impossibly convoluted mess and drawing attention away from the facts of the investigation.

For the record, I am NOT accusing the Clintons of arranging for Vince Foster’s death. I’m just saying they’re lucky. And I’m reminded of old Vince because of another extremely lucky thing that happened to Sen. Clinton’s presidential campaign this week. In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock and have somehow seen my blog but not the news, former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down from her post as a surrogate and Clinton finance committee member after making some rather awkward remarks about Barack Obama’s race advantage. In short, she asserted that if Obama were not a black man, he wouldn’t be doing as well as he is. Then – horror! – she refused to apologize, instead resigning from the campaign so she could continue to speak out against what she sees as a sexist media bent on running Hillary down because she’s a woman while being swept away by the grand notion of a black president.

Think about it. Ferraro is 72 years old, her personal political halcyon days long past. She’s a loooong time friend of the Clintons with a decent reputation and she looks like that grandma who still gets her hair and eyebrows done every week. She’s got name recognition but nothing to lose. And now that she’s gone Ronin, she’s free – even expected – to say things Hillary would never get away with. Lucky for Clintion, at the least. Possibly brilliant. Only time will tell, or not. Some mysteries are better left unsolved.