Posted on 09/23/2006 7:04:04 AM PDT by Kitten Festival
Geopolitics: Radical chic is thriving in the whirl of parties at the United Nations these days, and no one is being courted more solicitously as one of the downtrodden than Evo Morales of Bolivia.
You remember "radical chic," don't you? The 1960s and 1970s phenomenon, described by Tom Wolfe in his "Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers" tells how New York's glitterati threw black-tie parties to court supposedly "real" revolutionaries — like Black Panthers, Puerto Rican separatists or Indian liberationists — in a bid to feel "authentic."
It's been a long time, but radical chic isn't dead. Which explains why when radical Bolivian President Evo Morales blew into Manhattan a week ago Sunday, he got invited to all the best parties in town.
As revolutionaries go, Morales is about perfect. Castro's getting old lately, and Hugo Chavez's buffoonery and talk of the devil scared off even Democrats.
But Morales has that kind of caviar-leftist cachet. Since his inauguration as Bolivia's first Indian president this year, Morales has skillfully managed to put on a Western-tailored PR campaign to boost his appeal.
He refuses to wear a tie. He dons coca-leaf leis and flowing red robes he claims are "authentic" Inca wear. (Ignore the little "Made In France" detail about his black jacket.) He eats communally with his hands on the presidential palace floor in La Paz, and makes offerings to his ancestors with the cameras on. ...
More important, Morales knows how to mau-mau, or guilt-trip, the cognoscenti into submission. No surprise: Bill Clinton invited Morales to something called the "Clinton Global Initiative," his own Davos-away-from-Davos. There, Morales shared deep thoughts about "climate change," "global health" or "poverty alleviation" while snacking on canapes with petty heads of state, stray billionaires and old Cabinet cronies of Clinton.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
I think Morales is the one doing the shakedown, but you might be right and it could be the other way around. Clinton knows that Morales is a backdoor to Hugo Chavez and his money.
the religious Clintons will need their proverbial 'wall'.>>>
That's Bubba's 25 pound Bible?
Clinton feel guilty? Nah. Anyway, he's Black, haven't you heard?
Clinton is basically a wannabe revolutionary at heart, and identifies vicariously with these guys' aggressive antisocial psychopathic successes.
Clinton wants Kofi's job.
Yep. I wonder what Morales got out of him for this. Morales mau-maus for his supper and Clinton feeds him. What makes me barf most of all is Clinton's plan to GO to Bolivia, to tour around all the Indian stuff and get down there with 'the people.'
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