Bill Clinton Sleeps, Perchance to Dream

Bill Clinton has the energy to play bad cop good cop for Hillary's campaign. He has the energy to sneak in an attack on Obama, then apologize for his attack and then attack him all over again. He has the energy to praise Dr. King and his legacy. He just didn't have the energy to stop by Starbucks and get a double expresso if he needed it, before attending a speech honoring MLK in New York on Monday. During the speech Bill doesn't just appear to be nodding off, he's out. If he had been sitting up instead of leaning over on his left, he would have fallen forward out of his chair.

The campaign trail is a long one and it wears out younger men than Bill. Maybe him believing that he was the first black president, he felt he wouldn't be called on it once he realized that he was falling into the arms of Morpheus. I would of assumed that one mental flash of what had been said about race in the weeks prior or Ted Kennedy's public admonishment of his campaign tactics would have awoken him so thoroughly he at least would have sat up. But apparently those things don't weigh very heavily on his mind.

Other politicians have been accused of sleeping during important speeches, State of the Union speeches no less. John McCain was apparently nodding off during President Bush's speech last February. On further analysis it was determined that he, like other members in attendance, were following the speech by looking at a copy of it held in their laps. John could have gotten an age pass on this one, but apparently according to reports, the man is in better shape and more awake than half the people in this country.

Ronald Regan threatened to start bombing the Russians during a sound check prior to a speech, not realizing the mike was on and it would be later picked up worldwide. This one gets the age pass not for the mike being on but for the dangerously foolish joke.

Mr. Clinton has made other public appearance gaffs that seemed to show a similar insensitivity. There is nothing wrong with laughing when you walk out of a funeral, like Bill did after attending Ron Brown's service. A remembrance of good times past with the deceased or relief of tension or grief manifests itself with laughing as much as crying. But when you find yourself laughing and then you see the TV cameras rolling and you pretend to cry, you betray your insincerity and that insincerity, not the laughing is what hurts the other mourners.

If this was just the grind of the campaign then maybe we'll see him dosing off during Hillary's next speech. Or did I just give the master of damage control (usually after he personally wreaks it) a brilliant idea. Yes, I predict Bill will soon dose off during someone else's speech, probably Hillary's, and the Clinton machine will use that like a carbon credit or offset to minimize the damage done.