'TRAFFIC II,' STARRING THE CLINTONS

The junior senator from New York reminds me of the drug dealer's wife
in "Traffic." She makes it her business not to know her husband's. A
California cocaine smuggler wins a pardon from President Clinton by
paying Hillary Clinton's brother $200,000. To escape questioners,
Clinton makes a post-midnight car run from Washington, D.C. to
Chappaqua, N.Y. Left behind, Sen. Clinton says she knew nothing about
the deal. Four Hasidic men in New York get their sentences commuted
after their leaders deliver the community's vote for Hillary. The
first lady knows nothing of the reciprocity. All she did, she says,
was go to the White House meeting with the leaders.

A top contributor wins a pardon for her ex-husband, a fugitive
financier high on the government's Most Wanted list. Again, Hillary
knows nothing. Amid the rush of 11th-hour presidential pardons under
way, she admits to innocently passing "envelopes" from pardon-seekers
to the White House counsel's office.

What convenience of mind! She only attended a "meeting," only heard
"rumors," only passed "envelopes." Admitting the fact of her behavior,
she denies its purpose.

She admits what is provable, denies what is not. The neatness of her
confession makes Sen. Clinton the emblematic actor in this sordid piece.

Her husband rakes in millions from a fugitive's ex-wife. A chunk of
that money goes to making Hillary a senator.

She gets to live the dream while Bill does what he has to do to keep
up the payments. The arrangement is no problem for the crooks.

If the president's wife wants to pretend she's above the sordid trade
in pardons, that's fine with them. If the president's fundraising
friends want to invoke the Fifth Amendment, that's their business.

What's important to the pardon-seekers is that the Clinton family can
be " reached." The new Sen. Clinton's electoral lifestyle depends on a
regular flow of campaign cash. The job of the ex-president is to keep
that flow of cash regular.

To do that, he needs to keep his service to the wealthy and
well-connected contributors just as regular.

That is what makes Clinton reachable by the likes of drug dealer
Carlos Vignali, whose father is a fat-cat Democratic fundraiser the
likes of Marc Rich, who has proven his ability to reach any
politician. The loser in this deal is the country.

Before this, we laughed at poor little countries that drug dealers and
international crooks could buy. We mocked the Third World capitals
where a little money in the fingers of a certain family member would
open doors or close eyes. Thanks to Bill and Hillary Clinton, we have
now forfeited that small national vanity.

The next movie about international drug-dealing, perhaps called
"Traffic II," may well feature not a Mexican police chief but an
American president as the bag man.