Frank Rich in NYT: The Billary Road to Republican Victory

democrat2thecore

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Sat Jan-26-08 10:50 PM
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Frank Rich in NYT: The Billary Road to Republican Victory

WOW. Talk about hard hitting. Frank Rich comes down on Bill and Hillary.......

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For the Republicans, that means not just a double dose of the one steroid, Clinton hatred, that might yet restore their party�s unity but also two fat targets. Mrs. Clinton repeatedly talks of how she�s been �vetted� and that �there are no surprises� left to be mined by her opponents. On the �Today� show Friday, she joked that the Republican attacks �are just so old.� So far. Now that Mr. Clinton is ubiquitous, not only is his past back on the table but his post-presidency must be vetted as well. To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.

Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn�t up to her. �What�s your recommendation?� Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: �Well, I don�t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I�m sure he�d be happy to consider that.�

Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.

Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York Times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich�s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) �The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,� said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.

The Post and Times reporters couldn�t unlock all the secrets. The unanswered questions could keep them and their competitors busy until Nov. 4. Mr. Clinton�s increased centrality to the campaign will also give The Wall Street Journal a greater news peg to continue its reportorial forays into the unraveling financial partnership between Mr. Clinton and the swashbuckling billionaire Ron Burkle.

At �Little Rock�s Fort Knox,� as the Clinton library has been nicknamed by frustrated researchers, it�s not merely the heavy-hitting contributors who are under wraps. Even by the glacial processing standards of the National Archives, the Clintons� White House papers have emerged slowly, in part because Bill Clinton exercised his right to insist that all communications between him and his wife be �considered for withholding� until 2012.
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If Mr. Obama doesn�t fight, no one else will. Few national Democratic leaders have the courage to stand up to the Clintons. Even in defeat, Mr. Obama may at least help wake up a party slipping into denial. Any Democrat who seriously thinks that Bill will fade away if Hillary wins the nomination � let alone that the Clintons will escape being fully vetted � is a Democrat who, as the man said, believes in fairy tales.

Much more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27rich.htm