Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild must be one of the worst sports that has stepped onto the political stage in a very long time. When Hillary Clinton lost her bid to the Democratic nomination, her Ladyship packed up her toys and jumped into the Republican sandbox with John McCain, and his platform of anti-choice, anti-gay rights, and all the other obstructions to progress the Republicans feel bound to impose.
What makes this even worse is Lady de R also lives (at least part of the time) abroad, which means that she personally knows how the international reputation of the United States has suffered, especially over the last eight years, and what the rest of the world thinks of this election--that it is hugely in favor of Barack Obama's candidacy. In fact, in the snap of an Obama election moment in time, our global esteem will instantly rehabilitate to an enormous degree.
This is what her Ladyship said a year ago in an interview on Condé Nast Portfolio.com:
And I think if history is our guide, we've had stronger economies, more wealth creation, under Democratic presidents than we have under Republican presidents. So I don't understand why all my capitalist friends aren't Democrats.
But now it is the Democratic party and candidate she is taking the time to trash in every media venue that she can get her hands on, including this Op-Ed that she wrote to influence Florida voters (face it, a lot of old people) that originally appeared in the Orlando Sentinel. Lady de R's newfound appropriate audience watches her friend Rupert Murdoch's Fox News and is now perhaps among the James Dobson crowd. Here's her interchange with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who, after the interview sort of apologized for being tough with her. (Why would he do this?) And her giggly teasing response was: "You're the liberal elite. Not me."
This is surely an elitest pot calling the kettle black. The fact that this female half of a billionaire couple (who regularly plays with hundreds of millions of dollars), now "titled" woman who also graduated from some of the best schools in the United States called Barack Obama, Wolf Blitzer, or practically anyone else on the planet "elite" is so disingenuous it's almost laughable. No one except other Republicans would feel sympathetic to such preposterous claims. In fact, she wanted to be identified as liberal until Hillary lost. So suddenly her values completely flip-flopped?
Now she's advising middle class Americans that Obama's policies are going to hurt them? Tut tut. She must be projecting--talking about herself. Surely she pays American taxes? No doubt, her taxes will go up because she must be in the wealthiest 1/10 percent of Americans. If she was a middle class girl, those days are long gone. She truly fits the good Republican mold.
Clearly, Lady de Rothschild is not as supportive or impressed with Hillary and Bill Clinton as she once was. (How much money did she raise for Hillary?) When she so pointedly turned against Democratic philosophy, policies, and candidates-in short everything the Clintons publicly stand for and believe in--then this must feel like a stab in the back to both Hillary and Bill from one of their most loyal friends. When both Hillary and Bill have both campaigned for Obama and publicly said his presidency is the only right future for the U.S., surely her Ladyship realizes her support for McCain/Palin is going against the Democrats' best interests.
Lady de Rothschild has out Liebermanned Joe Lieberman. The Clintons can't be happy about this betrayal, can they? Surely Bill must get over Obama's ascendancy sooner or later. I've lately felt that Hillary has accepted her defeat and is getting on with the future--the 21st Century Democratic Party, a likely Obama presidency, and her own positive part in all of the above. I believe that Hillary is now onboard for a bright Democratic decade. (Don't tell me her fund-raising friend might possibly still be thinking that Hillary is the 2012 candidate if only McCain could win on Tuesday? Surely, she can't be going down that old road. Her Ladyship likely wanted the British ambassadorship, and that went out the window with Hillary's defeat.)
Obviously, Lady de R has raised a boatload of money for the Democrats, and they hate to give it up. But, as George W. might say, if she's not for us, she's against us. And her Ladyship has made it clear where her loyalty now lies. For God's sake, she's happily endorsing Sarah Palin. (And this after Hillary?) This member of the filthy rich might as well tattoo a GOP elephant on her aristocratic forehead. Since she has become a true Republican believer, she could employ Governor Palin in the Rothschild holding company after the election. If she trusts the wolf-shooting gov to make decisions for her home country, surely she would rely on her good judgment and intelligence to make decisions with the Forester/Rothschild hundreds of millions. Gov. Palin could build a Bridge To Somewhere for Lady de R.
Beth Arnold lives and writes in Paris though she is not a billionaire. To see more of her work, go to www.betharnold.com.