Newt & Hillary: It does make sense
Newt Gingrich, the Republican Speaker of the House who brought us the disastrous “Contract With America”, and Hillary Clinton, who almost single-handedly destroyed my chances for affordable if slightly lackluster health care, have joined together at least in their political lives.
Oddly, this political marriage does make sense. Gingrich is approaching the twilight years of his life. He evidently wants to be known as a Great Leader, one who joined America rather than the man who destroyed the leadup that the Republicans were enjoying against Bill Clinton. But he’s also an incredibly big guy. I caught him once on conservative radio where he kept on telling the host “No, that’s wrong” and corrected the course to more nuanced statements about the liberal agenda. While remaining conservative, he acknowledged his opponents’ ethics and worth. They were wrong but they weren’t traitors. Like a US Senator used to be before the current batch decided to become Congressmen.
Clinton, for her part, has become a shrewd politician, something none would have guessed during her tenure as First Lady. She has softened her approach and her stances, becoming much more Senatorial. She’s also a pretty big thinker — catch her making an off-the-cuff interview — who may not quite be in the league of Gingrich but is close.
Gingrich, for my money, may be one of the best minds in American politics today, someone who would indeed make a very interesting president. Only Vice-President Cheney really gives him much competition. With the demise of Sen. Paul Simon, I can’t think of a Democrat who has the intellectual weight of either of them. Anyone else want to hazard a nominee for this position?
I think it will work for both of them, showing that each can work with a strident member of the other side. Or at least someone with a reputation of being a strident member of the other side. Service in politics seems to have softened Sen. Clinton in the same way it hardened Speaker Gingrich.
AND … I can tell you from personal contact with the both of them they are each about as nasty as it gets. Truly, a match.
That’s pretty funny, marion. Perhaps the years have allowed them to adopt slightly less offensive public personas. (Personi?)
A buddy of mine at college interviewed all the 1988 major US presidential candidates and said the same thing. Except for the Bush, Sr.s: he really liked them both and found them genuinely warm people, although he said that he felt Barbara was smarter, even if George were no slouch. But he was also a blueblood son of the Mayflower.