What a tease. Last night, Hillary Clinton spent the first hour of
her New York fundraiser running through her usual talking points before
revealing that she had a surprise for the 1,200 assembled supporters,
who surely paid at least $50 a head for more than the usual litany. "I
have a great privilege," she said, smiling and slipping into the mode
of girlish flirtation that she deploys occasionally on the trail, most
famously in March when she thanked a firefighters' convention them for
their warm welcome and then—raising an eyebrow—said, "and thanks for
last night, too." Her surprise guest, Clinton continued, is "someone
whom I'm incredibly fond of, who I admire enormously, who is a man of
great distinction and honor who has served our country well for so many
years..." Here, people nudged their neighbors and, mouthing the word
"Bill," began to applaud. "...Whom I'm very proud has endorsed me for
president..."—big laughs, because, you know, what else are husbands
for?—"who is here, and I want to invite him out join us for this
conversation." A collective gasp. "General Wesley Clark." Well, at
least it was a silver-haired Arkansan.
The night's most entertaining moment came when Clinton compared Dick
Cheney to the Dark Lord of the Sith. "Vice President Cheney came up to
see the Republicans yesterday. You can always tell when the Republicans
are getting restless, because the Vice President’s motorcade pulls into
the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," she said. Oh snap.
But a
later moment was more characteristic. "This is question from a New York
City schoolteacher," said former Iowa Governor and current Clinton
national campaign chair Tom Vilsack, who served as Clinton's
interviewer. "What can you do about the growing and aging school
systems, not just in New York, the city, but across the country?"
"You mean like, the buildings and the facilities and everything?" Clinton replied, excitement in her voice.
"I would broaden it a bit to talk about what you think needs to be
done in education in general," said Vilsack, who is, by all accounts, a
better natural campaigner than Clinton.
Sorry, Tom--she wasn't having it. "You know, I'll start directly
with her question about school facilities," she said, launching into a
long disquisition on schools with "coal-fired boilers," "mold" and
"ceiling tiles falling" and proposing a "fund that can be used to help
local districts...get long-term loans to build and renovate and
modernize facilities." Give Clinton a choice between barnstorming and
wonking, and she'll wonk every time.
Where's Bill when you need him?
