Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Date:         Wed, 23 Dec 1992 10:58:00 ET
From:         "Ellen.Edgerton" <EBEDGERT@SUADMIN.BITNET>
Subject:      More cabinet appointments

> With all my due respect for Clinton, I don't believe he really cares
> one way or the other. He acts under pressure of all the interest
> groups and of his own promises. In politics personal feelings ('care'),
> moral or humanitarian considerations don't play any role whatsoever.
> If he appoints women or minorities to high posts, it's not because he
> cares, it's because of Realpolitik. There is something wrong with the
> system in which the most sizable minority (gays) can be so blatantly
> ignored.
>
> Sam.

Number one, the last I heard, most estimates of the homosexual population
in the U.S. run from 10 to 15 percent of the population.  I hardly think
they're the most sizable minority.

But this is not a game of "my minority is less minor than your minority."

As for your contention that personal feelings have no part in politics,
that may be the conventional wisdom, but with Clinton all the indications
are is that you are sadly mistaken.

Politics is >personal< for this man.  To him, they are one and the same.
I did not get this opinion by reading NEWSWEEK or TIME.  I have observed
him during the campaign, I have studied his terms in Arkansas, I have
read positive and negative commentary from those in Arkansas who know
him best, I have read fluff pieces about him, I have read hard and
critical analyses of his policies and methods, and I continue to be
hit by the inescapable conclusion that for him, "realpolitik" and
"real feelings" are hopelessly intertwined.  Or, perhaps, >hopefully<
intertwined.

That is not to say that he does not make blatantly political moves,
and considers things in a political context.  He does indeed.  But it
is ridiculous to claim that he does not have any real feeling for
women and minorities.  He is not afraid of strong women.  I think his
wife is evidence enough of that.  While this is not all generational,
I don't think people understand that he was raised in a racially
tolerant family and grew up in a generation where he witnessed real
changes happening for minorities.

Actually, his apparent relationship with his wife is a portrait in
miniature of just what kind of political animal Clinton is.  Nobody
can say, I think, that he and his wife don't genuinely care about
each other.  It is just too obvious that they do, and they work
very closely together.  On the other hand, it would be naive to think
that they both don't have political stakes in their relationship.

Why do people then assume that political interests and personal
interests are mutually exclusive?  People automatically assume that
because Clinton is such a brilliant politician, he can't possibly
really have any personal stake in what he does.

Politics is Clinton's life.  But I don't think even his most cynical
opponents can deny that while he goes out into crowds to shake hands
for political expediency, he is also going out there because he has
a personal >need< to.  This is a passion that cannot be faked.  It is
real, and it is just as important to understanding Clinton's politics
as his policies and positions and constituencies are.

I can understand why people do not understand this about Clinton.  I
doubt that even this post will convince anyone, because I haven't
really offered enough evidence.  There really is no >one< piece of
evidence I can give.

Clinton is a master politician, but I have not seen a single shred
of evidence in all my observations and study about him that indicates
he is anywhere near as cynical about it as most Americans are.  He is a
political horse of a different color.  That in itself doesn't make him
good or bad, but I think it's safe to say that the American presidency
has never seen anyone quite like him before.

I don't agree with all of his political maneuverings, but for him,
it seems, politics =are= personal.  This relationship runs to a depth in
Clinton which I really think most people don't understand.  This doesn't
make him good or bad.  But that is the way he is.  Apparently, the people
of Arkansas somehow comprehended this.  And for some reason, they thought
it was a good deal.

So, no, Sam, I don't believe that realpolitik and real feelings are
mutually exclusive.


Ellen
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