Are Clinton's Pardons Still A Sore Spot?



(image via huffingtonpost)

Guess who is saying that the Hillary Clinton 2008 campaign overreacted because of an acute sensitivity on the part of Bill Clinton over his Presidential pardons? Is it just The Corsair or has our favorite Dickensian villain's column been spitting hott fire lately. Robert Novak, still firing on all cylanders, says in his column:

"Democratic sources believe that the harsh response by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign to criticism by Hollywood producer David Geffen stems from an overreaction by Bill Clinton to any attack on his pardon policy as president.

"Geffen sniped at the Clintons in his interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd because President Clinton had pardoned financial contributor Marc Rich instead of American Indian activist Leonard Peltier. Geffen, a longtime backer of Bill Clinton, is backing Sen. Barack Obama for president.

"The movie mogul's comments marked the first time Bill Clinton had been subjected to an attack from his party since the 1992 campaign. The former president was reported as infuriated, raising the question of whether he will rise to the bait in any further intraparty criticism of his wife."

Ah, yes: The Unpardonable Pardon. The funny thing is that many members of The Chattering Classes expected Bill Clinton to become a member of the Dreamworks team post-Presidency, as a Board member, or even something more upfront. Wouldn't that have been the ultimate triumph of the Little Rock band-geek made good (From triumphant leader of the Last Standing Superpower to Ultimate Hollywood Insider (On second thought ...).

The unpardonable pardon and its aftermath, namely, the midtown office excess (Clinton ultimately moved to Harlem, with an assist from FOB and the current Ways and Means Chairman, Charlie Rangel), quite possibly feuled Bill Clinton's post-Presidential role as America's Ambassador to the World, at Large. A cynical mind might veer towards the intriuguing possibility that The former President is just running for Secretary General of the United Nations (Which, incidentally, Michael Bloomberg once said was one of the 4 coolest jobs in the world-- the rest being Mayor of New York, Pope and President). Still, Clinton's roving Ambassador gambit has been useful to the tougher, grittier Rumsfeldian America version, where Hard Power is All and Soft Power is for pussies (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment).

But lest we forget -- and oh how the Right would want us to focus on Marc Rich -- the Geffen mess is all about a Pardon for Leonard Peltier (Or so David Geffen would have us believe). There was no way Bill Clinton was going to pardon Leonard Peltier. God bless Geffen for being so ideolocially pure yet politically naive (Page Six says otherwise, however ...). Clinton, we cannot fail to note, is one of the thousand Democratic candidates that ran their primary election campaign dangling a possible pardon for Peltier in the most politically useful cities. "Free Peltier" is lefty codeword for, "Yes, I, too, read The Nation Magazine," Or, "I, too, have paid my ACLU dues, brother" It is gold in the Primaries. But -- and here I talk out of school -- the political reality is that the FBI position is intractable on the subject. Sad, but true. Whether or not Peltier did what he did -- I haven't researched it; he allegedly killed FBI agents -- the FBI stands resolutely against any pardon. Any American President pardoning or showing any lenience towards Peltier declares themselves public enemy number one of Quantico (and Beyond). Ironically, Louis Freeh -- former FBI director -- has made it his post-political life mission to criticize Clinton at every turn. Dark irony indeed.