The Mule Goes To Washington

Laden with more baggage every day.

by Dick Morris

"...Urged to compromise on health-care reform in 1994, she refused. Counseled by most of her staff to release the Whitewater documents when The Washington Post first requested them, she said no and triggered the designation of a special prosecutor. When Whitewater co-conspirator Jim MacDougal suggested that he buy her out of the investment to avoid political embarrassment, she refused, saying that she planned to use the proceeds for Chelsea's college tuition. When Bill Clinton had the opportunity to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit, Hillary vetoed that possibility, paving the way for her husband's impeachment.

When Hillary takes these positions, she believes that she is right - and no one can convince her otherwise.

When Hillary is right, this stubbornness is commendable. But when she is wrong, it is frustrating to her supporters and infuriating to her advisers.

But there's another reason for her stubbornness. Hillary, for all of her vaunted independence, depends on gurus to guide her every move. She falls under their spell and, while thus mesmerized, she believes they can do no ill or make no mistake.

Hillary wouldn't compromise on health care because her guru-du-jour Ira Magaziner told her not to do so. She wouldn't release the Whitewater records because her former mentor, White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, advised against it. She wouldn't back off her support for the war partially because the generals to whom she had come to listen and admire while serving on the Armed Services Committee warned that it would lead to a disaster. Combine that with the flawed guidance of her pollsters and you see why Hillary is stuck.

Sometimes the gurus are right (as on Iraq). Sometimes they're wrong. But Hillary can't tell the difference.

That's a key reason why she shouldn't be president."

Ms Rodham's biggest problem is the irrefutable fact that she is several depths out of her league in all things not related to shyster-attorney'isms.It's true that law school teaches one the basics of lying, but public office is not a court of law nor a boardroom where one might be sheltered from those nasty little citizens who simply don't know that she's superior in every way imaginable and only interested in doing what's right for them whether they like it or not.

So if she cannot debate herself, how is she to be capable of arguing her case against a glib and savvy opponent who may actually know a thing or two of what he speaks.The Rodham I've followed all these years is more suited to life in Buckingham Palace than Washington, and it's inconceivable that such weakness of character and lack of the very basics will propel her to the stardom she so desperately craves.