Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Margo Howard and Martin Peretz

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Margo Howard

Bill Clinton: Our First Cartoon President

Posted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001, at 12:32 PM ET

Dear Marty,

Your computer has a message that goes "Psst"?! All mine ever says is that I have performed an illegal operation ... which I know can't be right. Roe v. Wade is still operative (no pun intended), isn't it? And I have seen Traffic. I thought it was a good movie-movie, if you know what I mean. Good, not great. And yes, realistic about the futility of containing illegal drugs at the source. If Michael Douglas (hope he's not a friend) has one more face-lift, I fear he will be in Leona Helmsley-land.

Just to show our none-too-friendly "onlookers" that my knee is not jerking, I wish to pass on the following, which I liked a lot. It is from Inside, from a Conan O'Brien essay for Time. He makes a wonderful point:

[T]he reason I'm going to miss Bill Clinton is that watching him these past eight years has given me the same unbridled, childlike joy as watching a cartoon. Clinton was our first cartoon president. He ran off cliffs, was crushed by anvils and flattened by turn-of-the-century trains. Yet moments later, we always saw him, just like Wile E. Coyote or Daffy Duck, completely reassembled and eagerly pursuing his next crazy scheme. Essentially, people love cartoon characters because they cannot be hurt. They defy the rules of Greek tragedy. Clinton, unlike Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson, was not undone by his flaws. Whenever the smoke cleared, Clinton remained standing, covered in soot and looking at us slightly chagrined. ... [T]he irony of Bill Clinton is that he may have felt our pain, but we didn't feel his. We just listened joyously for which funny sound he'd make as he bounced happily off the canyon floor.



For good or ill, we haven't heard the last of him. He is too young, for one thing, and too in love with the lights. I will be curious if, like the Schwarzenegger character, he has promised himself that he'll be back.

Last night I got some good reading done, stuff I'd saved up. I had terrific background music ... the Boston Symphony. Our seats are under a light that's good enough to see the print. I tear out pages of things I want to catch up with, and that way there is no crinkling paper noise, ergo no irate people in neighboring seats. The program was quite good. Stravinsky, Mozart, and Berio. The Britten seemed to me like they were tuning up for 10 minutes, but a connoisseur I am not.

On Good Morning America this morning I caught a little bit of Robert Reich, hawking yet another book. You know, I think the thing to do for job security in this country is get yourself named to a Cabinet-level or high-visibility administration job. When your group is out of office, you are still someone to be reckoned with. I think the Clinton people have done this really wonderfully. Were I younger, I would try very hard to work for a president, if only for the sinecure to follow.

I don't know what time you got outta here this morning, but if you got your hands on a Globe, I feel certain you saw the story of our own Rev. Eugene Rivers offering Bush his help with the black community. In opposition to everybody's favorite shrinking violet, Jesse Jackson, he thinks that blacks can be brought into the tent. I don't know if this is being smart or being an Uncle Tom. I do concur with his point that anger about the situation in Florida with black voters is just warfare without an agenda.

Talk later.

XX,
Margo

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Margo Howard

Bill Clinton: Our First Cartoon President

Posted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001, at 12:32 PM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Margo Howard writes Slate's "Dear Prudence" column. Martin Peretz is a lecturer in social studies at Harvard and editor in chief and chairman of the New Republic.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Imagine if...
Hiatt | What if McCain had waged his campaign based on respect?
Editorial: Meddlesome PalinKing: The Danger of Palin Power