mbs
[At this point, fulminating about Bill Clinton's exit from office may be a matter not just of beating a dead horse but of waling away on the glue bottle containing its remains. But I can't help it; the guy still infuriates me. I heard on the radio this morning that Bill's new office near Carnegie Hall will cost taxpayers $700K – more, apparently, than such space has ever cost for any other ex-pres. Meanwhile, Clinton's about to give his first post-presidency speech, for which he'll get paid $100K. All in all, it's somewhat satisfying to know – if the following article excerpted from NY Observer is true – that Clinton's cachet has waned among the plutocrats and media heavies he courted so assiduously the past eight years.]
High Society Turns on Clintons
By Frank DiGiacomo
In this crucible of power and poverty, perfume and excrement [that is New York City], there's a complex calculation that takes place before the gatekeepers of the city – the media and the Mayor and the titans of Fifth and Park Avenues and Central Park West – decide to turn on one of their own. Considerations of wealth, influence, glamour and mutual friends are weighed. And given the knowledge that the ecosystem of power here is a fragile one, in which every action can result in an equal and opposite reaction, karma gets factored into the equation as well.
If you listen carefully, you can hear them running the numbers on Bill and Hillary Clinton right this moment. A few hundred mental hard drives are heatedly humming out there, trying to figure out how some of the Clintons' final acts in the White House – most notably Mr. Clinton's pardons of fugitive financier Marc Rich and the New Square felons – will affect their social standing in this city.
Just two weeks ago, the Clintons were poised to enter this city like heroes, borne upon the shoulders of Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, venture capitalist Alan Patricof, former ad executive Carl Spielvogel and so many other supporters. "Bill's The $7M Man," crowed the front page of the Daily News, with a full-color shot of Mr. Clinton, in black tie, throwing his head back in ecstasy at the monetary and cultural riches awaiting him here.
That moment did not last long. "It's an old story," said novelist, reporter and Clinton supporter Dominick Dunne, who's well acquainted with the social map of New York. "Here's this brilliant man, but there's always dogshit on the heel of his shoe. And that's going to ruin his triumphal entry into this city. He could have been the toast of New York, but this is going to muddy the waters."
Mr. Dunne sounded like a lot of prominent New York Democrats when he told The Transom: "I'm a big Clintonite; I have always been, through thick and thin. But I've got to tell you that I am disappointed beyond disappointment. Giving a pardon to a crook who gave up his citizenship–the whole thing stinks and smells."
Said another prominent Democrat and Clinton supporter who requested anonymity: "I have yet to find one person who can defend, explain or support what they've done." The Democrat added that, right now, the anger toward the Clintons is "really quite extraordinary, actually. I've never seen a reaction this unanimous."
It's even more extraordinary when you think how close the Clintons were to being home-free. For eight years, they kept from losing purchase in the stinky muck that always seemed to be sucking around their feet. Eight years! And then on the last day, like freed P.O.W.'s stepping on a land mine as they exit the prison camp, they went down. And unlike Mr. Clinton's recent heavily documented tumble while playing fetch with Buddy, no one is laughing.
"I'm too old to be shocked, but I'm an endless source of outrage," author and social gadfly Fran Lebowitz, the Boswell of the Barry Diller crowd, said of the pardons. "It's outrageous, no question. Unfortunately, it did not shock me." As Ms. Lebowitz said later: "I have to say, although I voted for Bill Clinton twice, I never liked him. I'm just a Democrat."
[Full text: http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage5.asp]
Carl
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