Against All Enemies I borrowed Richard Clarke's book from my stepdad and am reading it now. It's very accessible and the first chapter, which is his experiences on 9/11/01, is very exciting. It's amazing how long ago 9/11 was, but how fresh it can seem--and how unreal it still can seem. You may think you've heard all the book has to say in its media coverage when it came out (I did), but its overview is worthwhile.

Anyway the reason I am blogging about it is on page 89. December 1993 was the 5th anniversary of the Lockerbie Pan Am 103 bombing and Clarke had organized a Scottish cairn to be erected at Arlington in memorial (many killed were servicepeople). At a ceremony, Clinton and a 4-year-old boy whose father had died on 103 broke ground for the cairn, and Clinton whispered something in his ear, which the boy's mother later told Clarke was "My father died before I was born too. Be good to your mom."

Cute story eh? Not like the media cared--their report that night on the Prez was all about Arkansas state troopers, and not a word about Pan Am 103. No wonder people think politicians are assholes. Turns out those who actually interact with them have very different views. Clinton's empathy is well-documented, but when I was in DC last weekend I asked a campaign staffer why she chose to work for Kerry a year ago, and she had a personal story about how well he handled a question of hers when she met him.
¶ 6:18 AM