Jan 29 2008
Little note about Hillary at the State of the Union
In watching President Bush’s State of the Union address, the camera fell on Hillary Clinton sitting upright in her bright red dress. As always, she had on a smart businesswoman suit—I’ve never seen her in a dress; at least, not since Bill Clinton’s presidency— and her appearance was full of studied composure.
But as I saw her surrounded in a sea of Senators listening to President Bush’s address, I found her an inexpressibly sad woman. She had the gaze of a woman looking far off in the unknown distances, but she was also looking completely inward into herself—and she found herself wanting. Here was a woman, a powerful, influential woman, who was raised by an alcoholic father and who was married to a compulsively berating, unfaithful husband. Dick Morris said in one of his articles that Bill Clinton at one point tackled him to the ground and almost clocked him the day Morris had oral surgery. This is the man she married, and we must remember that we are electing a team to the White House, not just a person.
Hers is not a charmed life. Not by any means.
Without vivisecting the motives and psychology of Hillary Clinton, it seems like the only time when she appears alive is when she’s receiving the adulation of people. And when she’s not, when she feels her audience slipping from her, she becomes this weeping little girl holding the microphone in a New Hampshire diner. I find myself feeling very compassionate toward her, and I think we should all be praying for her. If she gains the presidency, she’ll need it. And if she doesn’t, she’ll still need it.
However, I still would not like to see her anywhere near the Oval Office. Her behavior is classic, textbook narcissism. I don’t believe she has the temperament and the stability and the strength of character to be a good President, especially at a time when we find our sovereignty being threatened.
Nevertheless, as she sat there with her faux politically neutral smile sitting uneasily on her lips, she suddenly seemed very alone, disconsolate… and if you think of where she began, where she was today was very sad, indeed.