Power is a beverage


Despite the claims of the punditariat, the democratic party has little in the way of true bosses.
Lyndon Johnson gave it a shot in 1968 trying to get the Presidential nomination for Hubert Humphrey-but LBJ was an incumbent President with vast political resources at hand.
Humphrey repaid the favor be being the dems "missed it by that much" champ until the apotheosis of Al Gore.
Since 1968 a motley crew of bangtail yaps have tried to play Kingmaker-Fixer to the party, everyone from Lawrence O'Brien to Mario Cuomo.
All have failed mostly because the nomination process is decentralized and constituencies divided for anyone to whomp together a national "machine".
And then there is Former President Bill Clinton...who longs be the 21st century's first national political boss.
They never should've pulled Bill's law license....barred from adorning some boutique law firm's roster Bill now has time on his hands to collect ludicrous speaking fees and to plot and scheme.
It's all very complicated but I'm assuming that the wily razorback doesn't want to see his wife Senator Rodham-Clinton elected President...he may be enlightened but I don't think he's enlightened enough to be first husband having been Commander in Chief.
He could bide his time for Chelsea to come of age...she has many bona fides, an impeccable lineage and no skeletons in her closet.
However by all accounts Miss Clinton is a sensible girl and probably regards public life with entirely understandable horror.
Besides, Bill has a short lived window of opportunity here, his wife has pledged not to run for President in 2004, she is famously silent on the 2008 race.
So the former President has to get his candidate in now in order to sleep easy the next four years.
Now at first it looked like Senator John Edwards was Bill's familiar spirit in this race. The Senator is young, energetic, sincere and is still new to Washington so he hasn't done anything embarrassing yet.
For all that though, Edwards has been running like molasses in a cold snap....little money is coming in and his campaign appearances while well received aren't known for their passionate bombast.
The kid just isn't ready....more than few people have said Edwards is in this thing solely to raise his profile in anticipation of a gubernatorial candidacy.
Well this betrays a certain cunning on Edwards' part...four out of the last five US President's have been Governors - and he is young yet.
So who knows, Clinton playz Edwards, but Edwards plays his own game.
And who knows, the Vice Presidency could well be dangled before him next year.
None of this solves Bill Clinton's problem, he still needs a candidate.
Viola' enter General Wesley Clark, soldier, scholar, statesman, Rhodes Scholar...mayhap a bit of a hero too.
He is even a razorback-hog heaven for the former President.
Now the punditariat tells us, that Clark is off to a rocky start as a candidate, he got in late, lacks cash, and polish-yadda yadda yadda...
Don't pay that any mind, Bobby Kennedy got in late in 1968 and ran very poorly at first but he found his voice and barnstormed the nation and party.
The New Hampshire Primary is one hundred days away trust me on this no-one up there pays the political milieu the slightest attention until after new years day....and then the game is afoot.
Meanwhile Kerry keeps busing his volunteers in one after the other.
Frankly, I wish Bill well in his endeavors...it'd be ironic if actually managed to assist in the deposition of his successor.
It would be yet another object lesson to all the fanatical Clinton haters out th