Schadenfreude

It just doesn’t get any better than this.

I have been saying, ever since he left office, that Bill Clinton governed about as close to conservative (or at least close to the center) as anybody of my persuasion could have hoped for. There is no doubt that any other Democrat would have made moves that were far more liberal. And you’d think that would please me, or at least offer some consolation on having a Democrat in the White House. But the problem I always had with Bill is that he wasn’t doing anything because he thought it was the right thing to do. He was doing it because it would help his approval ratings and help get him re-elected.

Dick Morris was his political guru right up until the he appeared on the cover of Newsweek one week for being Clinton’s Sherpa, leading him through the political minefields, and then on the cover of The National Enquirer the next for sucking the toes of a hooker and sharing White House secrets with her. Morris had, up until then, advised mostly conservatives. And he was much despised in the Clinton White House for constantly pulling Bill to the right on the positions he would take. Books and columns written later bear this out. Morris himself has written about how Bill would come ask him if he could take a certain position on a matter. Morris would then do a poll and conduct a focus group and then report back. Clinton took his advice, religiously and even continued consulting with him, secretly, after he was forced out. Policy was being determined by polls and focus groups.

That is what really bothered me about Bill, and what I also fully expected to get from the “inevitable” election of Hillary. And it’s what the liberals hate about her too! Arianna Huffington, the late Molly Ivins and just about any true lefty felt the same way about her triangulating.

So, what’s the schadenfreude all about? Well 3 days ago Hillary came in third in the Iowa Caucus. Now the polls show her more than ten points behind Obama in New Hampshire, which has it’s primary tomorrow and she’s now behind IN THE NATIONAL POLLS! And Drudge has a story that she’s contemplating dropping out so as not to harm the “Clinton brand” any further.

Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, one of the Clinton’s Hollywood benefactors, once claimed that “When they bury Bill and Hillary, each one of them will be lying next to an ex-President.” Looks like she was only half right.