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Having spent his life inventing himself to attain the presidency, it may be difficult to imagine Bill Clinton as anything other than the superstar politician that he was. Yet during his tenure I developed this peculiar inclination to imagine Bill Clinton in another time, another place. In the early part of the 20th Century, he may have best succeeded in creating some minor folk-tale about himself as a confidence man; a true con-artiste. I do so because Bill Clinton (Clinton isn't even his true name) embodies the quintessential American icon of the small-town political/business operator/con man; men of street-level, slight-of-hand illusions in an era of grander, more dangerous forms of illusion. He invoked the essential tricks of the con trade every day when speaking to the cameras; well chosen words with an immediate sincerity and charm. He was the definitive expert at the art of 'talking over the heads' of the media and political establishment and straight to the people. His greatest strength and the condition behind his most serious and fundamental (fundamental because that is what con men do) betrayal. He dared to look right into the camera (i.e. the eyes of 'us') and lie. Lie because he had to. Who could ever say that Clinton lacked any courage at all? He had his own (the con man's) particular daring brand. Had he permitted what was essentially a sex-scandal to scuttle a presidency the damage to the country would have been immense. The complete image of the pin-striped suited, fedora topped Clinton on the dusty backroads of middle-America circa 1920 came to me during his last year in office while reading The Big Con (by David Maurer, published 1940 and re-issued in 2000). It is a non-fiction account of confidence men and the ingenious con game tales they wove in their heyday in the early decades of the century. This uniquely American phenomenon is part of one of the great parallels in the American narrative. That is, the businessman and the con man, or the businessman as confidence man. A parallel between business and crime and the illusions therein; The Great Gatsby, Enron, etc. A theme often struck today by the playwright and filmmaker David Mamet. Clinton's biological father had been a traveling salesman, and an apparent womanizer, before he was killed in a car crash at the age of 28 while William Jefferson Blythe was yet to be born. Fate once again outdoing fiction with so telling a birth name and having the blithe yet determined young boy-wonder pull off the biggest con of them all; getting himself twice elected president. Clinton grew up around the sidewalk mechanics of de-classé Southern drinking, gambling and wheelin'n dealin'. His uncle owned a large car dealership. The seed of the grifter inhabits Clinton's genes. Barnstorm Bill may have gotten his name as an operator taking farmers across the mid-west and plains states. How easy it is to picture a young Bill Clinton with a hat perched up back on his thick hair somberly shaking his head in feigned sympathy down at a set of cards winning him his day's keep on a barrel somewhere in Denver (Or earning some may argue). The sensation of the 'touch' the true confidence man's reward; amounts being just measurements of achievement. (If the Whitewater investigation made anything clear it is that Clinton had at the time virtually no appetite for money. He only wanted to be president). But a man with a buried humanity, the con man with a conscience, which is what makes him so good and so endearing. Somehow, I see that Bill Clinton, Barnstorm Bill, a happier, better adjusted person. In contrast to Clinton the Arkansas con man, we are subsequently bequeathed, courtesy of the monied powers of the GOP, Bush the Texas businessman. Not so much a Jeckle & Hyde dialectic as it is two complimentary shadings of the American moon. The straight side of industry, its legitimate face, that other American archetype; the American businessman. You may recall that the traditional villain in those 70s cop shows was always an established businessman conducting his affairs in a 'heavy racket' manner. His attire: a slick, dark suit. This brings to mind Nixon's 'heavy' tactics and how they lie in stark contrast to Clinton the 'light touch' con man, with a great aversion to violence. Whereas Clinton came to the presidency by his sheer political genius and fascinating persona, Bush came to power with his optimal use of an old boy's network, which always seemed to see him through. Plainly anointed presidential candidate by the Republican Party hierarchy and with his brother and campaign co-chair Ms. Harris (Bad hair and too much make-up) doing their best to make sure the state of Florida would go to him. The Supreme Court, with his father's (and Reagan's) nominees, picking up the election lying in the street for him; to borrow a characterization from Lenin. Bush has been accused of succeeding in business in much the same way. But his solid ruling class family roots will assure him of continued goodwill just as his father has enjoyed while Clinton will ever be soiled by the seedy reality of who he is and where he came from. Yet Bush, in fact, does not seem to have the sharpness or cunning of a J.R. Ewing and for that he faces a danger perhaps more perilous than Clinton ever had to. His CEO's style of delegating and unexceptional command of details (where the devil always is) may prove more than problematic when dealing with the continuing crisis of a war on terrorism abroad and domestic economic uncertainties at home. A president must remain the center of gravity for the opinions and personalities that surround him and not permit them to tear him off onto tangents. His lack of grounding weight may well mean his administration's unraveling if things begin to go wrong somewhere down the line. Bush seems to have made the decision to topple Saddam Hussein. Hussein has proved himself to be one hell of a serpentine survivor. The Middle-East is a mess, a labyrinth of deceit and duplicity that no Washington thinktank policy wonk egghead could ever figure out. And the one thing the American people have more contempt for than a con man is a loser.
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