When politicians of the Joe McCarthy type insist that English is the only language to be spoken in this country, they are missing a glorious opportunity for words of other languages that make the English language more colorful. One of those words is chutzpah, which I assume is Hebrew in nature or perhaps even Yiddish. I do not pretend to be an expert on the language of the Hebrews but my belief is that chutzpah represents rudeness or the unwarranted assertion of authority and priorities. Some would define it as nerve which Molly Goldberg would pronounce as “noive.” If a long line is formed while waiting for movie tickets, for example, and a person comes along who insists upon going to the head of that line, it is chutzpah. When someone enters an expensive restaurant and states his desire to sup on a small salad with ice water, that is another demonstration of chutzpah.
This past week saw two or three demonstrations of chutzpah in the extreme. Bill Clinton, the former President who has now become the ward heeler extraordinaire of American politics, appeared before a collection of veterans from a VFW post in Charlotte, North Carolina. He delivered himself of these remarks:

I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.

So you see that Bill Clinton says that only his wife and Senator McCain love this country and have its best interests at heart. He excluded Barack Obama from loving this country and having its best interests at heart. This is not the first instance where the Clinton campaign has ascribed virtue to itself while excluding Mr. Obama.
The remark about love of country and having its best interest at heart is chutzpah in the highest sense. But what made it hard to fathom is that these remarks were delivered to an audience of VFW members by a notorious draft dodger. Bill Clinton never served a day in the uniform of any of the military services of the United States. Yet in the heat of this campaign he elected to question the love of country of the opponent of his wife. Could it possibly be that the fault of the opponent of Mrs. Clinton is a man of African-American descent?
In earlier comments from the Clinton campaign, Mrs. Clinton has said that only she and Senator McCain had passed the test for commander-in-chief. Again, Barack Obama was excluded even though Mrs. Clinton has no military credentials of any kind.
During the primary campaign in South Carolina, Bill Clinton elected to play the race card by minimizing the victory of Mr. Obama by saying that even Jesse Jackson won that primary several years ago. The point is to minimize Mr. Obama’s achievement by saying that he is the black candidate, so no one should expect much to come of his success.
Mr. Obama is a candidate for the Presidency of the United States and is not necessarily the black candidate any more than Clinton’s wife is the female candidate.
The net result of the Clinton campaign is that they are willing to destroy their own party unless Mrs. Clinton prevails. This is the sort of conduct that we have come to expect from George Bush and from Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. The Clinton campaign is clearly suggesting that if she does not prevail, she would prefer to see McCain as the presidential choice rather than the black and white candidate, Mr. Obama. There is selfishness, rudeness, and chutzpah at every step in the Clinton campaign of recent months.
On the same Good Friday, it turns out that the most wonderful Vice President in history, Mr. Cheney, was in Iraq and was accompanied by Martha Radditz, the ABC correspondent. When Martha Radditz told Cheney that 70% of the American public opposed the war in Iraq, Cheney’s only comment was “So?” In the language of the street, Mr. Cheney’s response of “So?” amounted to nothing less than “Up yours.” That remark has typified Cheney’s deplorable conduct while he has been our most wonderful Vice President for the past seven or eight years. His conduct qualifies him for membership in the chutzpah hall of fame.
Finally, we have Mrs. Clinton’s recitation of a visit to Bosnia where she contends that snipers were in the vicinity and that it was necessary, in getting off the plane, to run for the cars to take them to safety in the hangar. Unfortunately, a reporter from The Washington Post accompanied Mrs. Clinton on that trip and he reports that there were no snipers. Instead, at the foot of the steps as she deplaned, there was an eight-year-old girl with a bouquet of flowers to present to Mrs. Clinton. By dressing up this story with snipers, The Washington Post this Easter morning presented her with four Pinnochios for that epochal tale. You will recall that in the children’s story, the more falsehoods Pinnochio spoke, his nose grew longer. In The Washington Post exercise, a total of four Pinnochios is the end of the line. And that is exactly what The Washington Post gave Mrs. Clinton’s story about the snipers.
As an old soldier and a man who volunteered for service in World War II, I deplore what has happened in the Clinton campaign’s attempt to prevail over Barack Obama. Obviously they will stop at nothing, even if it means the destruction of their political party. John McCain, on the other hand, has shown some limited restraint with respect to questioning the patriotism of his opponents and their devotion to the best interests of this country. Is it too much to ask that Mrs. Clinton and Bill Clinton, her wandering husband, should show the same restraint? Apparently, that is not the case.
On Sunday, which was Easter in the Christian calendar, Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico, referred to the thought that the Clinton brand of politics is “gutter politics.” It is all of that and I hate to see a lovely word such as chutzpah becoming associated with this campaign. Chutzpah is a wonderful term which I hope survives this miserable campaign by the Clintons.
E. E. CARR
March 27, 2008
Essay 301
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Kevin’s commentary: Well, they lost. Glad it turned out alright. Honestly though as much as I like Bill, we really don’t need another Clinton in the white house. Let’s get some new blood. Also, regarding the whole succeed-or-self-destruct philosophy, Pop failed to account for a Republican party which was throwing the race even harder, and sundering its own base even more deeply.
Oh, and the “so” comment is infuriating. Screw that guy.