You can give 'em to the birds and bees
I need money
That's what I need
Reading Bloomberg reporter Jonathan D. Salant's piece this morning on hints that the Obama campaign is discussing paying a portion of defeated rival Hillary Clinton;s estimated Twenty Million dollar campaign debt reminded me of the words from the old song "Money," plus several other things about the oddities of the game of politics and the reality of being wealthy.
Looking at the latter first, I think it is more appropiate to refer to someone who reports amassing and hanging onto $109 mil in less than 10 years as being wealthy, since being rich simply means "to have more than enough."
As to the former, some games make sense only when you know the rules. Politics is not one of those games, and I think people running out of gas on the freeway because twenty bucks worth won't get you as far as it used to when it didn't cost $4 per gallon will agree, especially when they realize that 11.4 million of Mrs. Clinton's 20 plus million dollar debt is owed to herself.
That's right. She loaned herself 11.4 million and she wants every dime of that money back before August. Wealth accumulation happens best by the rule of OPM. (other people's money.) Now, here is the good ole this is how this game is played part.
-- Barack Obama's campaign is open to paying off some of the more than $20 million in debt accrued by defeated rival Hillary Clinton, a top adviser said.
``Certainly that is something that would be on the table,'' the adviser, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, told Bloomberg News reporters and editors yesterday. ``Obviously we want to help each other.''
Money for Clinton to retire her campaign debt -- $11.4 million of which is owed to herself -- may help smooth relations between the two camps following a 16-month primary campaign where the candidates at times exchanged personal attacks. The urgency for Clinton, 60, is she has until the Aug. 25-28 Democratic convention to pay off her $11.4 million personal loan. Otherwise, by law she can recoup no more than $250,000.
``Candidates who win primaries who reach out to the opposition have a much better chance of winning, and candidates who don't are called losers,'' said former Michigan Governor James Blanchard, who co-chaired Clinton's Michigan campaign. ``I would expect Barack Obama is in the process of reaching out.''
It is worth pointing out that by law, aid to Mrs. Clinton must be in the form of Obama assisted fundraisers, and not directly from his treasury.
Daschle, an Obama campaign co-chairman, said the issue hasn't yet been discussed with Clinton's staff.
Don't try to figure it out, just know this: When you got money - you got lots of "friends." They all crowd around your door. But when the money is gone and all the spending ends, Those "friends" don't come around any more. So said another song writer.
A business coach once told me, "Quit whining about the rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer. Find out what the rich do and do more of it and get rich or find out what the poor do and do more of it and stay poor." What a revelation. We do know how to win after all, and we can all be winners.
Know also that we've only begun to explode myths about previously held unfounded opinions. The more myths we bust the healthier and wealthier we're going to be.
If the Clinton's did a lot for you, God bless you. I missed out on the mythical Clinton help of the ninties. I do however, appreciate the motivating example they set by looking out for themselves.
Now in the game of life if America will become a fraction as fixated on the Obamas as we were on the Clintons we will find Barack and Michelle to be a treasure trove of great example for generations to come. They have already proven that "YES WE CAN" can make a world of difference when we embrace it.
Someone has wisely said, the best way to help the poor is to not be one of 'em.
Children are watching.
One Love.
BC.
