Two generations ago Frank Capra inspired the movie going public with a story about an average guy, Jefferson Smith, who took on the entrenched powers of greed and corruption in the US Congress. It makes sense that Americans of the era would have loved nothing better than to spend part of their weekend sitting in a darkened theater, suspending disbelief to enjoy an uplifting tale of a common man who perseveres and triumphs, even when the deck is stacked hopelessly against him.

Sixty-one years have passed since that classic graced the big screen. Movie audiences are more sophisticated now, but they still enjoy a good Capra-esque yarn. Another remake of the film was overdue. This year's version of the movie is about a brilliant and compassionate New York housewife who serves the common folk and the downtrodden by defying the odds and successfully taking on the stronghold of greedy capitalists and partisan power mongers in Washington from her newly won US Senate seat.

Great stuff. High concept. It's got intrigue, heart, and the all-important strong female lead character, but in order for you to get the most out of the story, you've got to seriously apply yourself. You know how non-compelling a film can be unless you can get with the protagonist. It won't do to just sit down in a nice little theater on a Saturday night and make believe those flickering images on the screen are real for a couple of hours. Hardly. Our generation takes its recreation much more seriously than that.

You've got to buy in fulltime. Suspend disbelief like your grandparents never could and believe that Hillary Clinton really is a brilliant, compassionate housewife from New York. You can't do that, you say? Well, it's obvious you came in late to this picture because if you'd arrived on time, you'd see that she and the mister do have that house in Chappaqua. Besides, most of the people of New York don't have a problem with the fact that she never actually lived in it, so work with me here, would you? I know it's a tough one, but you won't get the full effect of the movie unless you believe. (Oh, by the way, just ignore the "For Sale" sign on the lawn of the longtime Clinton residence in Chappaqua, that's nothing. Don't know how it got there.)

Regardless of whether you believe her as a New York housewife, that our heroine is the smartest woman in America doubtlessly qualifies her as brilliant, wouldn't you agree? I mean she did pass a bar exam and she did make a ton of money on a trifling investment in cattle futures, ...but then there was that little attempt to socialize health care a few years back and her recent faux pas about the first thing on her agenda being to write a change to the US Constitution.

Her Constitutional change would empower the major population centers like Los Angeles and New York City to dictate future Presidential election outcomes. No more electoral votes. No more pesky heartland hick states to answer to on the campaign trail. Yeah, that would fly like a lead pig right over Iowa and 2/3 of the fifty states. Okay, forget brilliant, then. It's obvious the Rodham Clinton name is not going to dilute posterity alongside the likes of Samuel Adams or any other Constitutionally noteworthy figures.

So compassionate is going to have to do for now. How could you doubt her compassion? Just seeing her at Senate School this week, all starry-eyed, fresh and un-jaded, it was clear that she anxiously awaited the time when she would crowd her way around her Secret Service guard to step onto the Senate floor and address the issues of health care and the family, battling Republican elitism.

Some say, however, that Mrs. Clinton's move for the Finance Committee wouldn't have been the most logical choice for a compassion-minded liberal because there would seem to be other committees upon which to serve that would closer reflect the image of a compassionate senator doing the bidding of the downtrodden.

Lobbying for a seat on the Finance Committee seems to represent a "show me the money" strategy, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it. It could be that when her husband, the former President, attaches himself to the International Monetary Fund as his next career move, she'll need to be somewhere near the Senate purse strings to help him with his legal debts, or rather, his humanitarian efforts.

You don't see the compassion? You really need to try harder because this movie has a six year running time and if you don't take a few essential leaps of faith, it's going to seem to drag on forever.

© Lynette Warren 2000 All rights reserved


Previously by Lynette Warren...

It's the Outrage (12/01/00)

The Great Florida Vote Hunt (11/24/00)