Truth 'Is'
By Gary Aldrich (06/26/04)
I was talking to a friend the other day about Bill Clinton’s new book. My friend leans liberal so, of course, he’s supportive of Clinton’s attempt to set the record straight regarding his Presidential legacy.
I asked him if he really believed the then-President of the United States - Commander in Chief – the leader of the free world – the most powerful man on earth and a man who used that power just because he could – meekly obeyed orders from Hillary Clinton and dutifully slept on the couch somewhere in the White House residence?
“Of course not,” he replied. “Don’t you understand that Clinton was just using a figure of speech?” Well, no, I don’t understand.
You see, most of my political heroes don’t speak in code. They say what’s truthful and don’t pepper their words, written or oral, with lots of touchy-feely symbolism. In other words, they say what they mean and they mean what they say.
Why couldn’t Bill just say, “I slept in another bedroom”?
My friends don’t play word games and that doesn’t make them unintelligent. It’s never necessary to decode what my friends are saying; especially when whatever is being said is important. When it’s important, it’s a good idea to speak plainly.
That’s why I like President Bush. He speaks plainly when it counts. He doesn’t speak in double meanings. He doesn’t use words that could go either way depending on who is listening.
But, that’s how Bill Clinton and his ilk communicate. Maybe it’s because they are politicians first and real people second. Of course one wonders, if Bill Clinton speaks one way when he’s on stage, does he ever speak another way when he’s off stage? I see no evidence that he’s ever off stage.
Who said, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching”? Well, maybe Bill could benefit from having some coverage from a hidden cam. Then we could see the real Bill. Could we handle that? Could Bill handle that?
Maybe it’s his legal training. President Bush is not a lawyer and if that means he can say something that I get the first time, then from now on, I’m voting for the candidate who is not a lawyer. I’ve heard enough double-talk from the Clintons and their political friends to last two lifetimes.
I don’t want my president to be tricky. Well, maybe just a little tricky when it comes to foreign leaders. Otherwise, I want to listen to what he has to say, absorb it, then go about my business. I don’t want to sit for hours, or days or months or years, trying to figure out just exactly what he meant. I don’t want to guess.
I think liberals tend to admire somebody who can lie and make their statements sound so believable. Maybe that’s why most people admire a good “con” when they see one but a lot of us don’t want our leaders to be con men. Apparently a lot of us do. How else can you explain Bill’s popularity?
Remember that great movie, The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford? We loved that movie because on some level we admire people who have the skills to fool others. They can twist facts around so that a rube doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going. A con man has a devious mind and does it without thinking. Lawyers need to develop those types of skills; otherwise how would they ever get a killer acquitted?
Some politicians could never survive without that kind of mind, but a tricky mind does not equal an intelligent mind. Never getting caught, I would think, would be one real test of an intelligent mind. Knowing when to use tricky language and knowing when to use straight talk is also a sign of a truly intelligent mind.
FBI agents who have learned how to be good undercover operatives know that at some point – if they are really, really good at what they do – they run the danger of crossing over and losing touch with who they really are. Things get confused, fuzzy. What they used to have as core beliefs can be shaken and sometimes lost altogether. I knew such an agent. He ran with the mob for so long that he became one of them. He forgot he was an FBI agent. His slip from reality became apparent to everyone including the defense attorneys. They demanded that a hearing regarding the agent’s competency be held. The judge agreed.
The undercover agent was examined by the court’s expert psychologists. They testified that he had become unable to separate truth from fiction having lived with liars and thieves for too long. The judge ruled he was incompetent and closed the hearing with the following words: “This FBI agent has become such a good liar, he would lie when the truth would serve him better.”
I believe that Bill Clinton is such a good liar, he will lie when the plain spoken truth would serve him better. Come on, Bill, you did not sleep on the couch – you only claimed that you slept there to make things seem more dramatic - more exciting to the reading audience. You wanted more sympathy. You wanted to paint yourself as having been appropriately punished, or as a victim. Those who read your phony book and believe all the double-talk are either rubes or liars themselves or, more likely, somebody who admires a good con job when they read one.
I’d rather watch The Sting because it’s funny, everyone knows it’s pure entertainment, and best of all, nobody got hurt making the picture.
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