In a just cosmos, former Secretary of State James Addison Baker would be relegated into the full dust bin of marginally important courtiers who owed his entire political career to friendships with Important People. The Texan-via-Princeton, nicknamed "The Velvet Hammer" was, like Henry Kissinger, unelectable in a somewhat educated American democracy. And thus he handled his mischief on the margins, behind the scenes, among the ermine-clad Princes whispering yam-yam into the ears of the dimmer Presidents (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment).
James Baker, oily courtier of two Presidents returns to power. Baker once remarked that you know you're out of power when your limousine is yellow -- not black -- and your driver speaks Farsi. He's sort of a less blood thirsty pony-boy Kissinger. No less a bloodless character than Margaret Thatcher reportedly once referred to Baker as Bush's "Fixer (Averted Gaze)," and the ever-outspoken Lyn Nofziger, when told that Baker had gone turkey hunting quipped that Baker killing a turkey would be "fratricide." Charmed, we're sure.
From the salmon-colored weekly:
"Jim Baker was so tickled by his portrayal in the new HBO film 'Recount' that he actually scheduled an advanced screening of the fictionalized Florida recount retrospective at the Houston public policy institute that bears his name.
"In some ways, he should be. While the movie makes clear that the facts at the heart of the disputed election mostly favored Al Gore, it can’t suppress its respect for Baker’s shrewd and cutthroat pragmatism. Gore’s legal team is stricken by infighting and ever-shifting strategies, while Baker commands the Republican operation with no hesitation or self-deception: It’s a street fight, and winning is all that matters."
Fuckhead was rewarded, to be sure, by having his magnum opus (a profoundly even-handed Iraq war exit strategy), The Baker Commission Report, entirely ignored by Bush 43, the thickheaded son whom he helped enable.
Fixer, fix thyself ...
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