Correctly Impolitic

George Stephanopolis wrote a ‘tell all’ book about the Clinton White House.  He didn’t really tell much, but he made a lot of money and positioned himself for a media career.  My friends at ABC, who initially were against his hiring, are now most supportive of his work-and how hard he works.  I’m not quite there yet but who knows.

Scott McClellan wrote a book that not only tells all, it tells about lies and duplicity and ignorance-much of it his.  Talk about an idiot - I hesitate to give an idiot any time, but there are things that need to be said - by me and anyone else who cares to say them.

The Bush Administration prides itself on ‘loyalty’.  I’m not sure what that means except given their incredible ability to deceive millions of people, I guess it means that in order to be loyal you have to support any lie told by the White House and additionally, you need to read from the script of the day.  Let’s talk about the script first-it’s easier than loyalty.  The script from the White House, with regard to Scott was “it just doesn’t sound like the Scott I know.” And  “It is puzzling”.  Without exception everyone who has spoken for the Bush Administration has said those two things.  So my question is; what is puzzling about a guy deciding after he defended a policy, and now wants to be a media personality, that he would have to find a way to make amends for the fact that he lied or he was not important enough to be in the loop. Additionally, who was the Scott that all these people knew?  Quite clearly, they neither knew him, nor did they take the time to figure what his motives would be to write this piece of ‘mea culpa” trash.  They all knew he was writing something. They thought it would be favorable.  They were horribly wrong.  I don’t feel the least bit sorry for them.

What’s going to happen to ‘oh poor Scott’.  Clearly there is a media backlash.  I haven’t heard one talking head talking about how Scott was right to either write this ‘tell all’  (like none of us knew the Administration was lying) nor have they talked about the fact that his confessions were honorably motivated.  Nope the guy is a sleeze - maybe that is the Scott they needed to know.

Before the Clinton Administration, loyalty was an important even prized asset in politics, because loyalty is really about trust.  When you worked in a Presidential campaign or an Administration you were judged not only by competence but by the fact that you could be trusted with information which, had you not been a part of the team, you would never have known.  While people like Diane Sawyer became media professionals, she did not write a book or prostitute (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), to get her job.  She worked very hard and despite the fact that she came out of an Administration with real problems, (Nixon), she did not denounce the President nor did she make up stories about how she really wasn’t a part of it.  She just worked hard and proved that she could be a success.   During the Clinton Administration many people learned that you had to be loyal to the President but neither of the Clinton’s needed to be loyal to anyone-except generous donors.  No one knew it until they started to throw their friends, awaiting government appointments, under that proverbial bus.  But that is not the point.  There is no need to pretend ignorance in order to circumvent responsibility. There is something much more endearing about confessing that you were a dope rather than you knew things were amiss but you had no power to do anything about it.  Oh Please!

When you are privileged enough to serve the President of the United States, with it comes some sense of responsibility and decency that no one should need to explain.  You are put in a position that requires you to swear allegiance to the United States.  But you serve at the “pleasure of the President.”  That means you defend decisions the President makes or you tell the appropriate person that you can’t abide by the decision and you resign.  It’s just that simple.  You do not stand in front of the media and lie to the public and then, in retrospect, decide you made a mistake.  If you realize you made an honest mistake it better not have cost 4000 young lives and it better not be about your desire to change your career path.

While I have made it a career goal to have a sense of humor about everything, I’m having a hard time with this.  So let’s try a not funny but workable poem.

Roses are Red
Violets are yellow
Scott McClellan
You are a despicable fellow.

As anyone who has opened a paper, turned on TV or listened to the radio knows, Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer. It is such a tragedy, not only for the Kennedy family but for the entire country.  It isn’t necessary to explain why because anyone who has ever turned on the TV, read a newspaper, or listened to the radio, or has had a child, needed healthcare, wanted more opportunity to achieve, has been concerned about human, civil, or women’s rights, has known someone with a disability,  … and on and on, understands the impact he has had on ordinary lives.  People don’t like to think of themselves as ordinary, so what do I mean?  I guess, for purposes here, I mean someone who has to take care of themselves.  They don’t have exceptional family or personal financial resources.  They have to face every day and survive.  With the projects and programs he supported, Teddy has made it easier for all of us to face the day.

When he was diagnosed there was panel after panel of talking heads and editorialists who talked about him as if he were already gone.  They were delivering an Obit prematurely. Even the Boston Herald, which for years despised Kennedy’s politics, said wonderful things about him.  I am reminded of Mark Twain, who, after reading his own obituary, said “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  Teddy did not die. There have been people with malignant brain tumors that lived for years and years.  And so I say to all you what my mother would say to you. “Only God knows when someone is going to die.  Unless you know more than God, don’t bury him yet.”

It’s been a bad week for good news and a good week for good and bad news.  After too many years of disconnect, I was finally able to reach my dear friend Stewart Mott.  Stewart has been fighting cancer for many years - he says he’s not in the best health.  He doesn’t run to the phone to answer the many calls I am certain he gets, but he sounds as sprightly and devilish as he always did.  Stewart was not an ordinary person - he was an extraordinary human being.   He was born into a wealthy family and could have lived a self centered, self indulgent existence.  But he didn’t.  He became a philanthropist for what some might call liberal causes-I call them human causes.  He has been honored time and time again for all his good deeds.  I know about them and admire him for his important contributions but my story is a bit more personal.

Stewart and I met in 1972 through our good friend Ken Bode.  I don’t remember if it was working on the McGovern campaign or at some McGovern related event.  He was one of those people we called ‘financial directors”.  I think he was probably the largest donor to the campaign. In those days, before FEC regulations and campaign finance rules, you contributed pretty much what you wanted to.  And what a time we had.  As advance people we never got paid and there was no money available for us to get from one place to the next. So at the end of the event we would pass the hat.  The more people at an event the more likely you were to be able to go on to the next event-and the events were always in different places.  We never called National headquarters for advice or counsel.  The told us where to go, we went and built an event, passed the hat and moved on. It was the song that never ends.   My memories of any one event are dim so I can’t remember where I first spent any time with Stewart but it was years later and I was recently separated, living in my car  on 6th street NE in D.C. (yes, I was the original middle class homeless woman), and driving back and forth from Washington to Boston every week to see my son.  The car, a Fiat 128 station wagon finally gave up. It was as exhausted as I was. but had more mileage. I then had no place to live and, in addition, nothing to drive.  At some point my friends Wes and Jane, insisted I come and live with them until I got a job and got myself together.  It was a relief not to have to wash-up in the Hyatt and get ready for the interminable job search.  (I lived with them well after I got a job-we were just having such a good time).

I had reconnected with Stewart by that time.  We went out with great frequency and enjoyed one another’s company.  I’m not sure why it never went anywhere but it didn’t matter because we became such good pals.  He was always gracious and did wonderful, bighearted things, like: he introduced me to Stan Lee (Marvel Comics) and then hired Spiderman to come to Seth’s sixth birthday.  He rented the Big Apple Circus for an evening of entertainment with his friends; we took great trips to places like the Cayman Islands and his home in Bermuda.  He allowed me to use his apartment in NY and he bought me a much needed car.  (It was an orange 1969 Volkswagon Beetle convertible - and the best car ever).  He called my brother and had him deliver it to me. Of course, I said it was too much and I couldn’t accept it.  And he said, “This is something you need, and it gives me enormous joy to be able to be there for you. Let’s not talk about it again.”   With all those material things he did, what most impressed me was how generous he was with his time. He certainly didn’t have to, but he did important things like introducing me to people I needed to know as an newcomer to the world of “inside the beltway, and much simpler things like always helping with chores and cooking with all the entertaining we did.  Nothing was too much.  He was my rock in days when I didn’t even have a pebble.

It was a terrible and wonderful time in my life. There were many people who helped me through the difficult times.  But Stewart played such an important role in helping move on, that there is no way I will ever be able to thank him enough or explain how important his loving kindness meant to me.  I guess Teddy’s announcement and Hamilton Jordan’s passing have taken me to a place where I have been thinking about the battles we have to fight to survive.  Stewart helped me to fight some difficult battles oh so many years ago and he is fighting his own battle now.  As my mother says, “Only God knows anything.”

There is no telling whether and when we will win or lose our battles. We just have to keep fighting.   But it sure is nice to know we have friends who will be there for us regardless of the outcome.

No such thing as a bad day. My friend Hamilton Jordan was known to say this time and time again.  He first heard it from a young cancer survivor.  It stuck with him.

Hamilton had a number of bouts with cancer and fought hard to overcome each one.  He lost his fight last night.  It’s like the end of a political era for those of us who knew him.  He was the Chief of staff to Jimmy Carter when Carter was the President.  Before that he was a trusted aide and one of those guys who the press wanted to talk to, because he was a most colorful character. He wasn’t always nice but he was always quotable, and smart, and quick with a reply.

It was December of 1975 when I first met Hamilton and the ‘crew’ from Georgia. We were in a bar in New Hampshire trying to convince the traveling press that should follow our candidate. It was before candidates had a reporter assigned to them  It was before CNN. It was before Secret Service were assigned to the multitude of Presidential wannabees,  but not much.  Anyway, the game was to create a schedule that was so interesting, that the press couldn’t resist being with your candidate.  And if you couldn’t actually design or afford to do something amazing-you would try to fake it with elaborate description or promises of a terrific meal.  Hamilton was better at it than our press secretary Dick Stout, mostly because Hamilton managed to stay sober– which was not easy given the amount of time we needed to spend in bars.

For many reasons the Carter team was an anomaly to this New Jersey girl.  Like they ate grits and they said y’all.  In addition, they had a southern regionalism that was offensive to my recently developed ‘general American’ ear.  (I was a speech major in college and we learned how to rid ourselves of all traces of the places from which we came). Needless to say, these (what I thought were hicks from Georgia)  gave all the sophisticates from the northeast, fodder for those drinking events during important Udall campaign meetings.  We were soon to learn that we had underestimated the potential of these ‘yahoo’s’ who said y’all.  (I was soon to learn that grits were to die for and y’all was a great way to describe everyone)

We had no idea why, but people seemed to like what Carter had to say.  They wanted to hear him.  Much to our surprise, they even voted for him.  Were we short sighted or what?  The peanut farmer kicked our butt in every primary.  Sure people loved Mo Udall and he had many friends in Washington, but people weren’t voting for him - except what we would now call the cappuccino/chardonnay set. Yep, we became “second hand Mo” and the Carters couldn’t be stopped.  Hamilton couldn’t be stopped.  He gave good advice to a candidate who always wanted to micromanage but not Haliton — he was willing to listen - to Hamilton.

The Carter years were different than the Clinton years for many reasons.  One of the most important being their willingness to be part of the Washington community.  Sure they had parties which were mostly Carter Administration people, but they did not have distain for the press.  Hamilton understood the concept of  “we all have a job to do - let’s try to make it work for everyone”.  We partied hard, had many good times, and shared all kinds of White House events.  Hamilton thought it was a good idea to invite staff and their families to the White House for Christmas, the Easter egg roll, Halloween, whatever.  It was nice to be part of that.  It made for great memories.
In 1980, when they were building a Convention staff, Bill Dixon (the Convention manager), called and asked me to be the Director of Security.  I laughed and said “Are you kidding?”.  “No” he said, “we need a woman in a senior position and that’s the only job I have left.”  I told him I wasn’t sure I could do it.  And he said “Well that’s what Hamilton said.  He said you couldn’t do it.”  Of course I took the job.  Later when I saw Hamilton I asked him why he thought I couldn’t do it.  He said he knew it was the only way to get me to accept the position.  He had great instincts about people.  He knew what worked.  He got a President elected, but sadly, (although many disagree), not reelected.

I didn’t talk to Hamilton after he went back to Georgia.  We all moved on.  I don’t miss him like I would miss a good friend.  But I do miss his political decency and ability to create a political family.  I miss his honest commitment to human rights, to helping children to deal with their cancer, and, of course his sense of humor about himself and his politics.

When Lee Atwater realized he was dying, he admitted that he done terrible things to get George Bush the First elected.  Hamilton didn’t need to make amends or apologies for his political antics.  He was just a very smart guy with exceptional political guy,  who understood the value of life and felt “there were no bad days.”

The President is a dope—and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  Certainly no leader of a great nation would travel to another country for a birthday party, and use that as an opportunity to attack a Presidential candidate.  And to further compare that candidate to some British twit who thought the Nazi’s just needed a good dose of “We Are the World”.  This is a President who made friends with that good old boy Kaddafi – you remember, he was also a terrorist, or so we said.   Bush could never pass my test, but there he sits… continuing to wreck the economy, kill our young people, and not have a clue about health care or the price of gas.

Last night we went to the theater and saw Jackie Mason.  If you have never see this very funny “old Jew”—as he calls himself, it is worth the trip.  I have a bit of history with Jackie because he started in the Catskill Mountains as a comedian in the “Borscht Belt”.  I guess it must have been in the 60’s when he fell from the grace of many hotel owners—my Aunt Ann being one of them.  He would do a show at some hotel then come to my Aunt’s place, the Commodore Hotel in South Fallsburg, to drink at our small nightclub. In those days, The Commodore was the place where all the entertainers and musicians would come after hours, so I met some of “the mountain’s” greats.  Well, apparently Jackie was not paying his bills anywhere.  My Aunt, a big woman who could be terrifying at times, admonished Jackie a few times (admonish doesn’t quite describe what she did but this is a g-rated blog).  Finally, one night she marched into the bar took him by the ear –yes, like you see in the movies, and dragged him out to the street – where there were cars racing past at high speed, and she didn’t care.  I never saw him again that summer, but when years later I saw him on the street in NY, I reminded him of that episode (I have never been one for subtleties), and I saw on his face, the same look of terror I had seen all those years ago.

Anyway, his show was hysterical but the highlight was that we sat in front of Larry David, Maureen Dowd and Richard Belzer.  We struck up a conversation about this and that. I shared with Belzer the fact that my daughter wanted to be the dead body on any “Law and Order” – we are “Law and Order” fanatics.  I also reminded Larry that we had met at Obama HQ in New Hampshire.  And Maureen and I talked a little about the John Edwards endorsement – but I’ll come back to that.

During intermission we walked out together and talked some more.  It seems Maureen saw my appearance on MSNBC, so we talked a little about my book “So You Think You Can Be President” and what was going on with the campaigns. I offered an analogy about Presidential politics and a three ring circus—which I stole from a very witty friend.   It was nice to confirm the fact that everybody in Washington watches “Morning Joe”.  Moving back from my show to Jackie’s show, it was truly funny.  While he does go after the “goyim” (non Jews) in the audience he also goes after himself.  And he does the best imitation of Jewish behavior and neurosis I have ever seen.  At some point he started to talk about politics.  Surprisingly, he never mentioned Rev. Wright but he didn’t miss much else. At one point he asked how many people were likely to vote for McCain, Obama, and Clinton. The result was incredible. In this NY city theater, people cheered for McCain and hardly clapped for their Senator or the one from Illinois.  Then he talked about the John Edwards’ endorsement of Obama.

“Who cares what John Edwards thinks,” he said.  “No one listened to him when he was running, he lost in the primaries and he dropped out.  Why would anyone care that he likes Obama or thinks they should vote for him.” (When he says it, it’s funnier than when I write it).  But I don’t disagree.  I think however, what was a far more important endorsement, was the NARAL endorsement.  I’m not sure why they did it now.  They have been avid Clinton supporters and yet they felt, for whatever reason, they needed to make a statement. I don’t know why, since Hillary says she’s going to stay in through all the primaries, these always loyal Clinton supporters needed to make a point.  Moreover, I’m not sure what point they made—but they sure did piss off a great many local NARAL people and a whole ‘lotta’ their friends.

Anyway, the good news is that almost all of the candidates have my book – “So You Think You Can Be President” (but you knew that). We’re hoping that Senator McCain will request it before it’s too late.  And the single only person who we know can pass the test – yes you guessed it, William Jefferson Clinton is now in possession of his own copy.  I anxiously await all their answers.  As soon as they come in I’ll happily let you know who we think gets the highest grade.

The President is a dope-and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  Certainly no leader of a great nation would travel to another country for a birthday party, and use that as an opportunity to attack a Presidential candidate.  And to further compare that candidate to some British twit who thought the Nazi’s just needed a good dose of “We Are the World”.  This is a President who made friends with that good old boy Kaddafi - you remember, he was also a terrorist, or so we said.   Bush could never pass my test, but there he sits… continuing to wreck the economy, kill our young people, and not have a clue about health care or the price of gas.

Last night we went to the theater and saw Jackie Mason.  If you have never see this very funny “old Jew”-as he calls himself, it is worth the trip.  I have a bit of history with Jackie because he started in the Catskill Mountains as a comedian in the “Borscht Belt”.  I guess it must have been in the 60’s when he fell from the grace of many hotel owners-my Aunt Ann being one of them.  He would do a show at some hotel then come to my Aunt’s place, the Commodore Hotel in South Fallsburg, to drink at our small nightclub. In those days, The Commodore was the place where all the entertainers and musicians would come after hours, so I met some of “the mountain’s” greats.  Well, apparently Jackie was not paying his bills anywhere.  My Aunt, a big woman who could be terrifying at times, admonished Jackie a few times (admonish doesn’t quite describe what she did but this is a g-rated blog).  Finally, one night she marched into the bar took him by the ear -yes, like you see in the movies, and dragged him out to the street - where there were cars racing past at high speed, and she didn’t care.  I never saw him again that summer, but when years later I saw him on the street in NY, I reminded him of that episode (I have never been one for subtleties), and I saw on his face, the same look of terror I had seen all those years ago.

Anyway, his show was hysterical but the highlight was that we sat in front of Larry David, Maureen Dowd and Richard Belzer.  We struck up a conversation about this and that. I shared with Belzer the fact that my daughter wanted to be the dead body on any “Law and Order” - we are “Law and Order” fanatics.  I also reminded Larry that we had met at Obama HQ in New Hampshire.  And Maureen and I talked a little about the John Edwards endorsement - but I’ll come back to that.

During intermission we walked out together and talked some more.  It seems Maureen saw my appearance on MSNBC, so we talked a little about my book “So You Think You Can Be President” and what was going on with the campaigns. I offered an analogy about Presidential politics and a three ring circus-which I stole from a very witty friend.   It was nice to confirm the fact that everybody in Washington watches “Morning Joe”.  Moving back from my show to Jackie’s show, it was truly funny.  While he does go after the “goyim” (non Jews) in the audience he also goes after himself.  And he does the best imitation of Jewish behavior and neurosis I have ever seen.  At some point he started to talk about politics.  Surprisingly, he never mentioned Rev. Wright but he didn’t miss much else. At one point he asked how many people were likely to vote for McCain, Obama, and Clinton. The result was incredible. In this NY city theater, people cheered for McCain and hardly clapped for their Senator or the one from Illinois.  Then he talked about the John Edwards’ endorsement of Obama.

“Who cares what John Edwards thinks,” he said.  “No one listened to him when he was running, he lost in the primaries and he dropped out.  Why would anyone care that he likes Obama or thinks they should vote for him.” (When he says it, it’s funnier than when I write it).  But I don’t disagree.  I think however, what was a far more important endorsement, was the NARAL endorsement.  I’m not sure why they did it now.  They have been avid Clinton supporters and yet they felt, for whatever reason, they needed to make a statement. I don’t know why, since Hillary says she’s going to stay in through all the primaries, these always loyal Clinton supporters needed to make a point.  Moreover, I’m not sure what point they made-but they sure did piss off a great many local NARAL people and a whole ‘lotta’ their friends.

Anyway, the good news is that almost all of the candidates have my book - “So You Think You Can Be President” (but you knew that). We’re hoping that Senator McCain will request it before it’s too late.  And the single only person who we know can pass the test - yes you guessed it, William Jefferson Clinton is now in possession of his own copy.  I anxiously await all their answers.  As soon as they come in I’ll happily let you know who we think gets the highest grade.

About a year ago my friend Clay sent me an e-mail that decried the state of the Union. “Can’t you be the President?” he asked. “I don’t think I could pass the test,” I answered somewhat honestly (we women, as you know, can do anything we set our minds to!). He wrote back and asked if there were a test. I didn’t think there was. And so he sent me the first hilarious question on what might be a test for anyone who thinks they can be the President.

After the first question, the others came easily and with my experience and his humor we continued to entertain each other over many months. We were actually never distracted by the idea of writing a book.

So You Think You Can Be President, my book now out in print, is simply a wonderful result of a series of extremely humorous e-mail communications between two whacky friends.

Watch this video as we discuss it on MSNBC and buy my book on Amazon (button to the right).

Aside from increasing the number of greeting cards that are sold and restaurants that sell out for brunch, what exactly is the reason for Mother’s Day? My mother always said there was no reason to pick one day a year to be nice to your mother, because every day was Mother’s day - she didn’t mean it. She would make us suffer if we didn’t acknowledge her aptitude for parenting. Mostly we acknowledged her ability to create frozen food. She was famous for cooking a meal, freezing it, and defrosting it later that night for dinner. In fact, there was a time when we renamed her Delores Defrost-and we meant that in the nicest possible way.

Parents were different when we were kids. They were not our friends. The closest I ever came to intimate conversation with my mother was when I got my period and my mother whacked me so hard I fell off the toilet. It was not done in any malicious way, so don’t go putting it in the same category as female genital mutilation - geez, where am I going with this? I’m not sure if it was a family or Yiddish custom, but when a girl becomes a woman, the mother is supposed to ‘knock’ the child out of her. It was not among my favorite family events, but I never thought she meant to hurt me. I never thought of anything beyond that single act of whack. Humiliating and frightening as it was, it didn’t damage me. Of course, if she had done it today she would have been arrested. Actually, when we talked about it recently we decided that maybe if we all turned our mother’s in for the things that would be considered abuse today, they would all be in jail getting three meals a day, a place to sleep, TV and additional activites. It would save all of us the cost of assisted living, aides and nursing care. ‘Nevermind’, as my ‘mothers’ (I had eight of them) would say, “what was, was.” They would also say “dead’s, dead” And “go… know” which meant; who actually knows, or who can ever tell? But “go…know” was a kind of colorful short hand. Eight mothers you’re thinking. No I wasn’t in foster care. My mother had seven sisters and a sister-in-law, and they were all my mothers. Four lived right around the corner and four lived in Newburgh, N.Y. It didn’t matter where you were in your life, or physically located, one of them would be there to guide you on your way. The guiding wasn’t always welcome but it was relentless - and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

And speaking of ridiculous. I think Obama should just say, “Look. If Hillary wants West Virginia so bad-she can just take it. We’re not going to win it in the general anyway.” What are these people thinking-or maybe that’s the problem-thinking is not in the picture. And speaking of not thinking, do you think Bill Clinton knows how ridiculous he looks when he wags his finger at the public. Does he not get that it takes everyone back to those terrible times when he lied to the American people about “that woman, Monica Lewinsky”. And speaking of Monica Lewinsky, let’s not.

But back to Mothers. A few years ago I got a call from a friend that was a little disturbing; it started as follow: “Iris, all I can say is when I opened my eyes I had my hands around her throat and I was squeezing.” Admittedly, I was a bit taken back by the call. And I said, “are there marks that will identify you by your fingerprints?” We both laughed hysterically. I understood what she felt and how she chose to explain it. (The Mother was untouched and lived happily ever after-until she died peacefully last week.) When we become the caregivers for our parents it is not without any number of frustrations. The task is daunting and sometimes we just don’t know how to deal with it. This phone call was the culmination of many months of horrifying episodes, including paranoia and accusations that my friend was stealing money and jewels from her beloved parent. In fact, my friend had spent a fortune supporting her mother for years. Obviously, choking her parent was not the answer. But if you have ever been a parent you can relate to this situation. There is bound to come a time when you are so frustrated by the behavior of your child that you do understand how it can lead to child abuse. The difference is that crazy people hurt their children when they discipline, and normal parents don’t. Anyway, it was shortly after this that they recognized the dementia and dealt with it. NY Times columnist Tom Friedman said his mother put the ‘mench’ in dementia, and that was certainly the case with this truly lovely lady. Unfortunately, we are a generation and a country unprepared to deal with aging or the old. And both the health care system and are attitudes about illness do nothing to support our reality-our parents are getting old and if we don’t have tons of money, they are not going to be able to do it gracefully. Nor are we. Hopefully, this next generation of leaders will help us to find some solutions.

Hillary appeared with Chelsea over the weekend for a special Mothers’ day push. I was sorry they didn’t just stay home and cuddle. I sometimes do that with my daughter and never did it enough with my son. But it’s a great way to spend some quality time and it can put things in perspective. Hillary may or may not stay in the race or win the nomination. These are things about which no one knows today. Chelsea may or may not be the first child again - even though she is not a child anymore. But the one certainty they have is their love and support for one another. For one day, I wish it had not been a public display, but rather just quality time off the campaign trail hugging and assuring one another that everything would be alright. It appears this might be a smart alternative to a schedule of political events, because what appeared to be a small crack in the inevitability of her candidacy seems to have become a lake. And she’s sitting in a boat in the middle of the water, but everyone else has rowed away.

Barack has moved on. He can’t spend the day with his mother, but can spend the day with the mother of his children. When I looked at the schedule it appeared that it was exactly what he was doing. Talk about smart. There’s nothing that better helps us to set priorities than understanding the value of our families and, of course the passing of a loved one.

I’m not spending the day with my mother, who is across the country, or my children who are in Massachusetts. I miss them all and hope they miss me, but I have been reflecting about times passed, and I pray that whoever is elected to lead this nation has their priorities in a place that helps the rest of us to cope with times to come.

Here’s my prediction - and I am writing this paragraph before the results are tallied in Indiana.  I think she goes to the Convention and concedes in Denver.  I could be wrong. It has happened. But why would she throw in the towel now, when she has come so far. When a victory in West Virginia means so much.  When Kentucky needs to have a say.  When Oregon looms large and Puerto Rico remains so hot.  Maybe, if she has no money, she will suspend some campaign activities.  But I don’t know-that’s not the Clinton style.

May 7, and you are there.  I hope.  Remember last week when the talking heads were lamenting the recent passing of “Oh poor Obama”.  How things can change in just an evening.  Many may ask, why is she staying in the race. Ok let’s speculate.  She really thinks the Democratic Committee is going to award her all the votes they were never ever going to count, and she will have the popular vote.  Well, maybe.  Or maybe she thinks something terrible will happen to Barack and she’ll be there to pick up the pieces-or the crown.  Perhaps she feels that all these primaries are a way to know where Bill is all the time.  This morning some talking head suggested that she stays because she loves the “comeback” narrative. (Please shoot me if I start to use ‘narrative’ as an adjective).  It wouldn’t be unusual for the people who surround her-who have jobs as long as she stays in, (some of whom she is paying big bucks), have convinced her it is possible to win. And of course, Terry McAuliffe simply can’t resign himself to not being an important player-he loves all the media  attention he gets from the Clinton association.

The New York Post, a Clinton hometown paper had the most colorful headline-they always do.  “Toast” they called her.  Is there any wonder that there are numbers of close Hillary friends who claim  they have always remained independent throughout the campaign season-I don’t think so.  There is no embarrassment for a Clinton advocate to admit it.   So why have they suddenly become independent (as opposed to Obama).  Probably because they have to play the Washington game of political expediency in order to survive.  And at the other end of the continuum there are the Clinton supporters who say that they won’t vote for Obama if he is on the ticket.  These people are just plain stupid.  And if that’s not throwing the baby out with the bath water, or the tub, or the designer cradle, or all the contraptions they have to entertain children now.  And speaking of the stuff they have to entertain kid’s today-which we didn’t even imagine when my kids were little, no matter what I bought for them to play with, they preferred to play with a pot or pan and a wooden spoon.  Back to throwing out the baby-which I also often wanted to do but they grew up to be terrific adults who will most likely vote for Obama.  By the way, The NY Post headline today is “Over the Hill”.  Their headlines are always terrific and ridiculous - but without apologies, they do say what the editor thinks.

Also in the realm of the ridiculous, Barbara Walters has a new book where she reveals her affair with former Senator Edward Brooke.  She sent him a note to tell him she was going to throw him in front of a bus.  Oh, and on Oprah, she also said that she was never his mistress-he was married when they, as we say in the south, “liaised”.   And more news, Star Jones is appalled by Barbara’s revelations about Brooke and about Star.  I think she commented by saying something like, ‘that old bag would do anything for a dime.’  It appears they are having a tiff.  Maybe Star figures to milk her mention beyond what it deserves.  Now isn’t this better than President politics.

This afternoon, when I had nothing to do, I was wondering if people beyond the beltway and with no immediate tie to a campaign care about whether Hillary gets out or stays in.  So I conducted one of my anecdotal surveys.  This time in Boonton, New Jersey at the Town Hall when I was paying my mother’s water and sewage bill.  Immediately after I paid the bill I went to voter registration to check and see when my mom would receive her absentee ballot. A discussion ensued about when ballots were mailed because there is a State Primary in June.  People were moving in and out of the office and so I asked each of  them what they thought about the Presidential Campaign.  Almost to a person and most vehemently, no one thinks Hillary should concede until all the Primaries are complete or, even more surprising, the decision is made at the Convention.  OK, it is New Jersey and we do take our elections seriously, but I must admit, I was rather surprised that in this Republican stronghold (Morris County)  anyone would care about the what the Democrats were doing.  I’m kinda with my New Jersey friends.  If she wants to continue, and she has the money, why should the people in the remaining states be denied the opportunity to weigh in.  For her to get out now is akin to Jimmy Carter’s early concession in 1980. He went on TV and congratulated Ronald Reagan before the polls closed in California.  It was awful. If Hillary packed her bags and headed home instead of West Virgina, there would be a great many people upset about being denied the right to choose-and God knows there are enough people trying to deny us that right.

I believe that when Democrats consider the alternative, they will vote for Obama.  And I also believe the Obama campign will welcome the Hillary people to the fold.  She is not dividing the Democratic party, the pundits are - or they are trying, but it’s what they get paid to do.  So I say, let Hillary be this rather appealing Hillary for as long as she wants to be.

This afternoon I heard a disturbing statistic. 31% of the People who support Obama say that they will vote for McCain rather than support Hillary.  What does that tell you?  Never mind, I’ll tell you what it tells me, because I am writing and you are not-and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  If Hillary wins the nomination, and there is certainly serious question about her numbers, the people who say they will vote for McCain are most likely young independent voters.  They were brought into the process because they wanted to believe there could be a change that would make their future better. They were inspired by the Obama rhetoric and the idea.  My guess is that they will not vote-but they certainly won’t vote for McCain.  No grown-up real Democrat would vote for anyone who would put another conservative on the Supreme Court or perpetuate the ongoing succession of incompetence in running the government.

The Pundits are still discussing the Reverend Wright.  This time it is in the context of the Primaries tomorrow.  The Chicago media is non-stop Wright and that is spilling over into Indiana.  What could they possibly be saying that the people in Indiana haven’t heard?  In case you are groping for an answer, the answer is nothing.  So let’s look a little deeper into why it doesn’t stop.  Why is it that people are still going to use Wright as a reason not to vote for Obama - if they need a reason.

There are a few possibilities.  The first is obvious.  They are racists and despite any explanation Obama might give, they will not vote for a person of color.  Maybe that’s over simplifying, but there are misogynists and racists endlessly roaming the streets looking for a reason not to be co-opted by a man of mixed color or a woman who is nothing if not relentless.  But those people are probably McCain supporters, so they do not have impact on this primary.  Another is what I blogged about yesterday.  Obama hasn’t finished the sentence.  He started with, ‘I am not Reverend Wright’ and that’s where it ended.  But I think he needed to continue by saying, “Here’s who I am, and this is why you should vote for me”.  There’s a third possibility. They believe what Hillary is saying about a gas tax break and they don’t want to admit it because it is so ridiculous.  It is ludicrous to think the Congress will pass some law that will make the oil companies pay for any American to go on a holiday. The oil lobby and too many Congressmen are “slap on the back” pals. In case no one noticed, there haven’t been any hearings to address the issue of oil gouging.  Hillary is in the Senate. Had she wanted to do something she would have asked for hearings. But nothing would have happened. It’s not like the gas crisis started last week - she had plenty of time to demonstrate how serious she was before the people in Indiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania had to cast their ballots.   Anyway, the Reverend Wright controversy provides a reason for them to vote for the spunky woman who apparently will never give up.

The candidates are tired. It shows in different ways.  Hillary seems a bit strident-you can hear it in her voice.  Obama is a bit lackluster, you can hear it in his voice as well.  It seems this nasty race is never going to end.  It reminds me of a scene from the movie “Gandhi”.  The British were beating the Indians with sticks and rifles and whatever they had handy. The Indians were not fighting back.  They just lined up, were physically abused, fell down and got back into line to take some more abuse.  In the movie there was a reporter who was calling in the story-or maybe telegraphing it - but his description was “And still they came… on and on …”  That’s how I feel about the primaries: And still they go on and on…  And Hillary - still her attacks go on and on.  And here’s the last reason I think the Wright stuff is working. Obama doesn’t fight back. He has had plenty of opportunity.  For example, when Hillary said, “I wouldn’t have stayed in the church listening to those sermons”  He could have said, “and I wouldn’t have stayed with my wife if” … well, you get the picture.

Obama has not had great training for the debates or many interviews. He has not learned that he does not have to answer all the questions he is asked.  He needs to understand that you go with your strengths.  You answer the questions that you want to answer and that meet your needs.  Oh if only the candidates read my blog they would be so much wiser.

There are people who think that the primaries still matter.  They don’t.  No candidate  is going to get the number they need before the Convention.  What does matter?  Harold Ickes is working the Duper Delegates. That matters.  And the Clinton campaign no longer thinks the truth is more important than the win.  Obama is surrounded by people who appear to still be running a local election, and the pundits are never going to sit down and shut up.  No they’re not, no they can’t, no they won’t.

Once Upon a time there was a beautiful Queen who had two children, but they grew up and  moved away, so the Queen had no one to talk to … oops that’s the wrong story.

Once upon another time, there was a terrible King who ruled a powerful nation. The King was so awful that the people threatened to overthrow the throne. Well, he certainly didn’t want to sit on a broken throne so he declared he would pass the crown on to one of his children.  The older child was a female and under ordinary circumstances she would not have been in line to take over, but she was very smart and also relentless in her pursuit of the title.  The younger child was a male.  But he was also not what the King or the country had in mind. You see, he did not believe that only the royals could have a say, so he was apt to make trouble.  The King was in a quandary, but since no one cared where he was, it didn’t matter if he was in a quandary or Atlantic City.

What to do? What to do?  This was a question pondered by the elders, the wise men and the sorcerers-it is always important to have the sorcerers on your side because the serfs think the sorcerers have a direct connect with God-or some great power.   Anyway, the Princess went and talked to the people tirelessly about her qualifications. The Prince talked about his vision for the future.  Over time, it appeared that the farmers liked the promises the Princess outlined, while the scholars thought the Prince made some sense. Finally,  it was clear that the race to be King, was too close to call. And that neither the brother nor the sister were willing to serve in a roll subservient to the other. So the Princess got her bow and arrow and shot the Prince. He was wounded but not mortally, and eventually he retreated to his own little castle and lived happily ever after.  What am I talking about? I have no idea. But I like the idea of this election cycle as a fairy tale-and did you get the part about sorcerers?  It doesn’t matter because we’re moving on.

This week, Obama started the sentence with “I am not Reverent Wright”.  But I don’t think he finished the sentence. The end of the sentence should be, “Here is who I am and here is why I should be the next President.”  In a Presidential campaign you simply should not assume that people know anything. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.  You have to walk them down that ‘ole’ path and take them where you want them to be.  Preferably to inspiration point where they are ready to pull that lever or punch that chad in your favor. I think you can see by the polls that people are still not sure about who Obama is or why he would be a better (more electable) candidate than Hillary.

But enough about them, what about me?  I was on the “Morning Joe” (MSNBC) show this morning to talk about my book, “So You Think You Can Be President”.  Are you sick of hearing about it yet?   Anyway, after a night of awaking every half hour to think about a witty and pithy sound bite, (my old pal Bob Beckel once said, if you wake up with a sound bite TV networks will call you because they know they can count on you to say something broadcast worthy).  I finally gave up trying to sleep and read through the notes I had prepared as a study guide. It looked something like what I would have prepared in college for a final exam. If they asked me, how I would describe the book I would say, “it’s a funny introduction to the overwhelming job of governing the nation.”  If they asked me… Well you get the idea.  But, as with anything I prepared in college, once I began to study I oft got my answers confused. With sound bites (memorable answers without any substance), it was especially confusing because I kept forgetting which answers went with what questions.  By 3:30am when I imagined that they asked me what my favorite job was in the Clinton Administration, I was thinking about a totally different question.  “Well Iris”, they would say, “What would you advise the President?”  And my answer was, “Clay and I met on e-Harmony.com for lonely writers”.  You see now why I was incapable of staying asleep or even in bed.

I was up and studying for about an hour before David stirred. “If you’re tired” I said waking him, “you don’t have to come.”  When he didn’t answer I repeated the question-maybe just a little louder.  It took about ten minutes before he actually responded and felt guilty enough to agree to be part of my posse.  We arrived at the studio at about 7:30.  I was still practicing possible scenarios.  Almost immediately they took me into hair and makeup-one of which I had, and the other of which I needed. It’s been years since I have had someone “make me up” because I always feel that make-up makes me look older.  But without it the cameras were not going to be as kind as the young woman with the non ending blush brush, so I succumbed. And to tell you the truth, I looked great.  They determined my hair was fine so I walked back to the green room, (there is not green room in the country that is painted green).  According to Wikipedia, ” the most widely accepted origin of the term dates back to Shakespearean theatre. Actors would prepare for their performances in a room filled with plants and shrubs.”  Whatever the derivation, it is a place with coffee and usually some treats. It would have been terrific to have a cup of coffee, but my lips were glossed and I didn’t want to lose the luster.  (We all know from the Reverend Wright experience what happens when you lose the luster.)

At that point I didn’t know who would be conducting the interview.  When I realized it would be all of the hosts I figured that with three people asking questions, and the interview lasting 4 minutes, I would never get a word in.  Then I heard Clay in my head saying “have fun and sell the book”, so I knew where I was going.  Mika, Willie and Joe couldn’t have been nicer. And here was the best part, they treated me like a colleague instead of a guest.  So I relaxed, decided to have fun and answered any questions with a smile and good humor.  I was pretty and damn good.

Of course what happens when it’s over is that you want to do more. “Please”, I begged.  “Let me stay”. It was not to be.  We gathered our belongings and headed over to the “Today” show to meet Peter Greenberg, a wonderful friend and “The Travel Guy.”  What started out as a simple visit became an Altman movie - but that’s another blog.  Right now I have to get on line and see if there’s a site called e-Harmony.com for wanna be TV co-hosts and, of course, I have to finish the sentence.