And good morning.
I remember when I heard those words coming from the mouth of President Bill Clinton. I remember I was stunned. I was sitting right where I’m sitting right now, but probably drinking a cup of tea and eating chocolate. Excuse me while I put the tea kettle on. And get an Oreo.
It was that day that I really started to listen to politicians, especially politicians who had been lawyers. Some of whom, like this one, were disbarred. I wondered, is there a class in law school titled, “How to Spin a Phrase?”
Of course, the above words were uttered during Clinton’s impeachment trial while he was trying to defend himself in part for having, uh, for a lack of a better word, “relations” with “that woman.” Poor Bill. And the woman with the blue dress.
I noticed during President Obama’s eight years, some of the same types of tricks. He reminded me of Obiwan Kenobi from Star Wars. I remember one particular scene where a storm trooper stops him and Luke for their suspicious behavior. (My apologies for not knowing which movie this was or which planet they were visiting.) While Luke thinks the gig is up, Obiwan slowly waves his hand in front of him and tells the head storm trooper to ‘move along, there’s nothing to see here.’
The storm trooper turns to the other storm troopers and says, ‘Let’s go. There’s nothing to see here.’ and they all leave. Instances like that happen in most of the Star Wars movies.
While Obama didn’t exactly use this trick, I think he did use what I’ll call “Disbarred Lawyer Speak.” It was like you shouldn’t listen to the actual words he says, look for the double meaning. Kind of like shaking your head “no” while saying the word, “yes.”
Is there training for this type of trickery? Is this because some disbarred lawyers are charismatic? Was Jim Jones charismatic? Is half this country mentally ill?
I don’t know. I have learned how to listen, so that’s a good thing. So, move along, nothing to see here.
Adios
Musings over 50 