“LIAR! LIAR….!"

By Edwin Cooney

It’s my guess that it’s not necessary that I complete the above taunt most of us used when we were “kids”!  What’s amazing is how much Republicans and other opponents of Hillary Clinton are depending on this phrase to prevent her from officially entering 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. next January 20th!  I hereby offer some advice — forget it, it won’t work!

Here’s the absolute truth.  For more than one reason, labeling her a “liar” misses the mark entirely.  We’ve had successful political candidates vulnerable to the liar designation almost from the very beginning of the republic.  First of all, here’s a list of successful presidential liars:

Thomas Jefferson promised during his inaugural that he believed all Americans were “Federalists and Republican-Democrats.”  He didn’t mean a word of it as he hired Republican-Democrats and fired Federalists! Second, Jefferson broke his word to strictly interpret the constitution when he purchased the Louisiana territory.  What Jefferson is primarily remembered for is all of the benefits of that acquisition to America’s wealth, security and abundance rather than the violation of his publicly stated strict constructionists’ constitutional principles.

Grover Cleveland basically lied or misrepresented who he was when he represented himself as a friend of working men and then sent the army in to stop the 1893 Pullman strike.  His sop to laboring men and women was the adoption in 1894 of Labor Day.

Franklin Roosevelt promised the people in 1932 that he’d balance the budget in 1933.  However, he more than unbalanced the budget.  He saved the homes, farms, bank accounts and businesses of thousands of grateful citizens who came to love him and some pretty arrogant conservatives who hated him even as they prospered.  Eight years later, he promised to “keep our boys out of World War II,” but eventually molded those boys into a grand army that won our last “necessary war.”  FDR often said he never let his left hand know what his right hand was doing.

Dwight Eisenhower publicly lied about the purpose of the U2 flight that was shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1st, 1960 that precipitated an increase of “cold war” tensions.  We forgave him because, after all, he was Ike.

John Kennedy, during the 1960 presidential campaign, assured Americans we were behind in the “space race” when he knew we really weren’t.  Then, he brought about Camelot which included a successful race to the moon and a tax cut proposal which 1980s and 1990s conservatives would grasp to their prosperous bosoms.

Lyndon B. Johnson promised that American boys weren’t going to fight a war that should be fought by Asian boys.  That was a major policy statement during the 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater.  President Johnson did ultimately pay in unpopularity for that “lie,” but even today he rates in the top 10 presidents we’ve ever elected.

Richard Nixon lied so frequently that it’s hard to choose one lie.  However, the biggest lie was his promise during the 1968 campaign not to interfere with LBJ’s foreign policy.  Then, just before the election when it appeared that there might actually be a possibility for peace, he privately told the South Vietnamese government to withhold its cooperation with the Johnson administration because he’d give them a better deal.  Some believe candidate Nixon’s act was worse than a lie, that it was downright treasonous.

Ronald Reagan promised he’d balance the budget by 1984 and proceeded to leave us in a debt that was over three times what it was when Jimmy Carter left office.  However, Reagan was “the great communicator” whose anecdotes were so eloquently delivered that he was labeled “the Teflon president” by Colorado Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder.  (It was once observed that had President Reagan driven through a car wash with the top down on his presidential convertible, Jimmy Carter would have gotten wet!)

Now, like a number of Hillary’s “lies,” some of these are petty, but truthfulness is generally not what the voter is looking for.  Voters are looking more for acknowledgment of their fears and anger than they are what specific strategy a potential president will use to tackle a national or international crisis.  Second, few Americans really know what it takes to have Congress convert a presidential promise into law.  Third, all of the presidential candidates, with the possible exception of Governor Kasich, are as vulnerable as Hillary on socio/political and even spiritual grounds.  Ted Cruz is so arrogant that few of his senate colleagues find him at all easy to work with.  Mr. Trump is openly anti-ethnic, anti-Islamic, and anti-women’s movement.  Ideological conservatives, both socio and economic, don’t really trust him. On top of that, his crudeness exacerbates his negative image more than it draws people to him.  Bernie Sanders won’t ultimately be able to escape the socialist label and, sadly, his ethnicity and his age are likely to hurt him once election time draws nigh.  As I see it, not only is Hillary far from being the liar too many people enjoy saying she is, but too often in the past Americans have demonstrated their willingness to be lied to.  The 1984 election comes to mind when Walter Mondale announced during his acceptance speech that he’d raise taxes and President Reagan insisted he’d never raise taxes.  Then came the tax reform bill of 1986 that brought tax increases in the form of social security payroll taxes within it, in exchange for further cuts in corporate and high end individual taxes.  Walter Mondale was joyfully proclaimed a political fool for telling the voter what he intended to do while President Reagan, who was so smooth and eloquent, quipped his way to re-election.  Remember the second debate when he promised not to hold Mondale’s comparative youth against him during the campaign?  Also, what do Hillary opponents expect Hillary to lie about during the campaign?  Do they doubt that she’s more progressive then Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz or Governor Kasich? Do they expect her to portray herself as somebody she really isn’t? Which GOP candidate has more experience in foreign affairs than Hillary Clinton?

So the question is: How much does it really matter if Hillary Clinton has told a whopper or two or three?

Some of Hillary’s strongest detractors still long for the days of Richard Nixon.  Still others long to be wooed once again by Ronald Reagan.  Then there are those who love wallowing in their own personal indignation!  After all, we’ve accustomed ourselves to being the victims of politicians!  We enjoy asserting that “…all politicians are crooks” which thereafter frees us from even caring who we elect.  Even more, lies energize too many of us.  Additionally, so many of us enjoy our sense of indignation.

Sometimes I wonder who lies more to us — our politicians or ourselves!

What say you?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY