Scott,
Thanks for your insightful elaboration about Clinton.
I do wonder about your assessment of his positives, that he is smart, works hard and >attempts to be conscientious< You give away the point when you say >attempts< If someone is conscientious there is no attempt, one simply is.
IMO Clinton is fundamentally a sociopath characterized by extreme narcissism. As is the case with sociopaths, particularly if they are intelligent, as he is, they can fool people. As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of
the time. We are already seeing this play out. There are still people he fools who will be fooled by him until eternity arrives.
He is not conscientious IMO. Every action he takes is in the service of his personal needs. His protection of the teamsters and the teachers unions serves his needs for political support. There is never a principaled decision.
More important I believe, his foreign policy is totally controlled by his personality needs. He goes to China, kisses their behinds by-passes Japan, and betrays our ally, Taiwan. this is his passive acquiesence to the needs of the moment. There is no long range planning. There is no loyalty to others. If you look at the middle east or Bosnia or Afghanistan it is all the same thing. He is man without principal as is the case with sociopaths.
The real issue in the current debate is being masked by the White House strategic emphasis on the sexual aspects. Of course, Starr is in large part responsible for this ( and I hope he will soon open up on the important stuff (campaign finance, filegate etc). The real issue is the corruption of the administration.
Clinton, IMO is the final excrudescence of our destructive era which started in the 1960s. I hope and expect that with his ouster there will be the beginning of a return to cultural sanity, honesty, responsibility and acceptance of the basic and simple moral values which have accompanied, and permitted the emergence of the extraordinary culture and society which we still have.
Regards, Ed
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