The real reason Clinton pardoned Marc Rich
.........has less to do with money than it has to do with sex. We all know that Clinton has a problem. Most of what he has done in office has been about him. Well, that’s not entirely fair. Maybe I should say the WAY he has gone about being a politician has been about him. It’s been about gratifying his need for approval generally. It’s been about gaining sexual approval, repeatedly reaffirming his sexual power. It’s been about charm, persuasion, gratification through money. Money is the currency of Bill Clinton’s sexual needs. Through his fund raising power, he has transformed the Democratic party into a cash machine, a personality cult for the sole purpose of boosting the ego of the charm machine. A very tough thing for them to have to deal with now.
We know he’s smart. He knows the law and he is exceedingly careful to define the law, at least for himself, so broadly that his behavior could not possibly fall outside his definition. The quid pro quo that so many assume to be obvious in the case of Marc Rich may never be shown to be blatantly illegal, because to Mr. Bill, it was really all just foreplay. And since he doesn’t benefit directly from the transfer of funds to accounts other than his own, such as the library or Hillary’s campaign, he can say, for the moment at least, “I did not have financial relations with that woman, Ms Rich.”
But of course we know what Bill’s definition of financial relations really is. Yes, money changed hands. “I let Denise visit the ‘oval office’ to caress my saxaphone, but we didn’t consummate anything.” So the pardon itself is actually as close as he gets to a shared orgasm.
I do have to give Bill some credit. He is capable of compassion. In the past few years Denise Rich has had to endure the loss of three close family members to cancer: her mother, her sister and the agonizing decline of her 27 year old daughter to leukemia. So maybe compassion for her really did play a role in his granting of the pardon. But still, an argument could be made that his compassion is really just a part of the charm package that ultimately is only about him and his need to exercise his sexual power. It is the payoff to, let’s face it, a voluptuous woman who, after all, may be available for a visit when he gets out to the coast for some corporate ritual adoration sometime in the near future.
What about the core legal issues of the Rich case? Well, I figure Bill gave the actual case about as much attention as Dubya gave to the case files of death row inmates just before their execution by the State of Texxxas. That would be about 20-30 minutes-just enough to make sure the prosecution case looked good, too bad if the defense attorney slept through most of the trial. In all fairness, however, Bill is one smart cookie. For him, that 30 minutes was probably about all he needed to absorb the details; for GWB, that thirty minutes is about the extent of his attention span. But again, even after three aides advised against the pardon he still went ahead and did it. What more proof do we need that it wasn’t about the legalities anyway?
I will give Bush some credit for at least not appearing so far to be driven by anything like Clinton’s primal need for recognition of his sexual prowess. How refreshing. But by the same token I would have to say that Al Gore does not demonstrate that drive either. He spent too much time around Bill and got sucked into the fund-raising personality cult himself and it contributed to the outcome of the election.
So what does this mean for the investigating committees, attorneys-general and the hired bloodhounds? Well, the AG of NY has an obligation to the people of NY to find a means to recover the funds. And Dan Burton may yet find a smoking gun. If not, they will be left with only symbolic censure, where Bill may finally(at least symbolically) admit that the flow of money in this case is, as in most peoples minds, the equivalent of oral sex—it’s Sex, dammit.
Meanwhile, Dozoretz is looking more and more like Bill’s madam, his pimp. Raising $200K is almost as good as copping a feel in the corner. A million is a home run. Whoa! No wonder she’s taking the Fifth. |
