Which Greek Tragedy are Hillary and Bill Enacting?

Help me please: Which Greek tragedy would be the proper metaphor for the political narrative playing itself out before our eyes? If Hillary Clinton loses her presidential bid because Bill's help has become so destructive to her campaign that it is alienating the press and offending African Americans (yes, he who was formerly dubbed "the first Black president"), that would be a tragedy of epic proportions. This is especially poignant, considering how strongly people expected his presence to be positive for her, not to mention a redemption for him.

Perhaps the specter of losing the nomination after being dubbed the putative front runner, or of gaining the nomination in a bitterly divisive nomination contest then losing the presidency, might be likened to a Pyrrhic victory.

Or it might be like a poem I had to memorize for my expression class, back in the stone age when there was such a thing. It was about a king whose soothsayer told him he would end up destroying that which he prized the most. The king in angry disbelief threw his chalice out the window. The chalice struck and killed his only son who happened to be walking by under the window at that moment. (Perhaps someone can help me remember the name of this story, too.)

Hillary has worked so hard and given so much that it would be a similar kind of tragedy if her efforts were deep-sixed not by a charismatic newer-comer who has convinced John F. Kennedy's daughter to regard him as the rightful heir to the Kennedy legacy, but by her closest kin, Bill Clinton, a man whose own life's mythology holds that he was inspired to seek the presidency by his personal contact with JFK in his youth.

I haven't come up with a precisely comparable myth so far. But I'm sure the narrative of destroying that which one loves the most is one of humanity's most recurrent and heartbreaking tragedies, Greek or otherwise.

There's still a chance for Hillary to recoup if she can run this race as Hillary.

But Bill will have to realize he's had his day as president. It's time for him to recuse himself from the spotlight and button his lips. To practice a little impulse control and quit draining the energy away from her. So here's the message to him:

"Go home, Bill, and make fundraising calls. Go to Africa and fight AIDS. Resume going around the world as the beloved senior statesman. Go anywhere but onto the campaign trail for at least the rest of the primary season, except to stand behind Hillary smiling supportively on election nights.

The first woman president has to win or lose these contests on the strength of her own abilities. But you could lose it for her, and that would be a tragedy indeed."

Follow Gloria Feldt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Heartfeldt

Comments

[jrockbg]

After looking through a days worth of comments on this posting I'm saddened by what's not being discussed. Bill Clinton is playing the ultimate race game: he is using white racism and xenophobia of black people to further Hillary's bid for president. He equated Obama's campaign to that Of Jesse Jackson! Obama is not, nor trying to be the "black" candidate. And that is exactly what Bill Clinton is trying to paint Obama as. He is tugging at the racist and prejudiced heart strings of white America! And every comment on this post has given him a pass on that. I am saddened.

[OtayPanky]

We're seeing exactly HOW ready she is to lead on day one.

Hillary's shown herself to be a person of low morals AND (unlike, say Bushco) spectacularly poor political judgement, to boot.

This isn't a Greek tragedy. But it is an all day plane crash.

[NABNYC]

Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. Clytemnestra stayed home while her husband Agamemnon went off to the Trojan wars: Oh boy, good times all around, raping, looting, pillaging, enslaving.

But on their journey to the "sacking," the warriors ran into a series of problems. And Agamemnon, being such a smart guy, decided that he would sacrifice one of his daughters (and Clytemnestra's daughter) by burning her at the stake. (Kind of like Bill's decision to burn a cross on Obama's front lawn).

Sack Troy. Grab slavegirl Cassandra, go home. (The Cassandra bit is -- kind of like Monica. Slave - intern is pretty fair).

Agamemnon arrives home, tells Clytemnestra that he's brought her a present (the slave girl, which Agamemnon really wanted for himself). He goes in. Clytemnestra heard about him killing their daughter, as well as the rest of his conduct, and kills Agamemnon.

[Sussanonymous]

Primaries show what candidates do under pressure. In a tight spot, Hillary ran for Bill. Among other things, this shows that with all the other baggage the Clintons bring to campaigns they are (astonishingly) capable of dragging in still more: Bill's powerful presence suggests a willingness to change the Office of President into the office of Co-Presidents (and we've had enough reinterpretation of the Constitution by Bushites). Vote Edwards Feb. 5.

[wm1066]

More like the 'Happy Days 'episode when Fonzi jumped the shark.

[lezlie]

...and Hillary is the present DLC "lamb to the slaughter"... her carcass will wind up with Al Gore's political career and John Kerry who has less political power than a freshman congressman now. Just because Bill escaped the deadly fate of the DLC doesn't mean Hillary will... and Bill is giving away his legacy for the love of power. Al From and Terry McAuliffe can ruin anyone's career! Very sad.

[Independent voter]

Yer doin' a helluva job willie.

Something between Leda and Oedipus seems about right.

[Doofus]

Think Shakespeare. Try 'Macbeth'.

'Macbeth had a wife... She was a bad, ambitious woman, and so as her husband and herself could arrive at greatness she cared not much by what means. She spurred on the reluctant purpose of Macbeth, who felt compunction at the thoughts of blood, and did not cease to represent the murder of the king as a step absolutely necessary to the fulfilment of the flattering prophecy.'

From the Charles & Mary Lamb version, at
http://www.online-literature.com/lamb/tales_shakespeare/10/

[mommadona]

~MACBETH~
"Out, out, damned spot"

Macbeth at first is reluctant to do harm to Duncan. However, when Duncan makes arrangements to visit the castle, the opportunity presents itself too boldly to ignore. Pressed on by his wife, they plot Duncan's death. Lady Macbeth gets Duncan's attendants drunk; Macbeth will slip in with his dagger, kill the king, and plant the dagger on the drunken guards. Macbeth, in a quiet moment alone, imagines he sees a bloody dagger appear in the air; upon hearing the tolling bells, he sets to work. Immediately Macbeth feels the guilt and shame of his act, as does Lady Macbeth, who nonetheless finds the inner strength to return to Duncan's chamber to plant the dagger on the attendants when Macbeth refuses to go back in there. When the body is discovered, Macbeth immediately slays the attendants—he says out of rage and grief—in order to silence them.

http://www.bardweb.net/plays/macbeth.html

[seawolf77]

South Carolina is a freak show. Whoever they send me I will reject simply becasue they won in SC and Iowa. As far as I am concerned they can fall into the damn ocean and good riddance. It's like getting a recommendation Limbaugh or Hannity or Dobson. All the Gid fearing men that miraculously know what God wants . In other words, the fakes and phonies. The day Bill Clinton is not an asset is the day the music dies.

[blueraven]

Hillary wants Bill with her. She claims he's behaving no differently than any other candidate's spouse. Funny, but Mrs. Edwards only seems to speak when she's spoken about. And when has Mrs. Obama slung any mud? Ms. Feldt, I submit you are not paying a lick of attention.

[AnninCA]

I think they've already made this adjustment.

He was put in front to take the heat. He did his job.

Now, that's over.

[magicmary]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/037

[Cedman]

If Bill goes home he takes her voice with him.

[andy65]

it was hillary's decision to put bill out there after finding her voice in new hampshire. it was hillary who stumbled in to the mlk vers lbj affair. the single stupidest comment of the whole election so far by any candidate including huckabee. it was hillary who voted to authorise the iraq war. maybe she shares a tragic pension for self destructive acts with her husband.