The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 5 of 6)

defending Bennett by citing Cuomo's remarks. Both of these defenders wish to knock down the notion that gambling is a sin. But can one have confidence in Cardinal Cuomo's glib view that gambling not only is "not among the seven great sins," but not "even among the 70 small ones"? That's the kind of thinking that leads to the disappearance of sin as a concept altogether, i.e., outside of Republican-orchestrated budget cuts in social programs. /p>

In any event, since when is sin the issue? The question isn't whether Bennett committed a moral offense. It's whether he's irreparably hurt himself politically. The pundit defended Bennett out of understandable political loyalty. Cuomo perhaps did so out of sense of easy magnanimity toward a soul who'd already been politically compromised.

Or maybe there was something else going on as well. The New York Times story in which Cuomo's comments appeared refers to Bennett as "one of the nation's pre-eminent moral crusaders," which pretty much corresponds to the role Cuomo saw himself fulfilling for his liberal causes. It's no accident he remains best known for his San Francisco Democrat and Notre Dame speeches of 1984. In the former he expressed high moral dudgeon to make a case for permanent class warfare against Republicans; in the latter, he made an outright moral case for coming to terms with immorality, if not championing it completely.

Besides, ever since those speeches Cuomo has been a political celebrity, the very same status Bennett has enjoyed for more than a decade, if for other reasons. It was nice of Cuomo to show solidarity with Bennett, albeit at an opportune time. Since leaving office, and especially after his son's fiasco of a gubernatorial run last year, Cuomo must be finding it harder to remain in the spotlight.

In many respects, celebrity, status, and wealth are interchangeable, even if they bring with them the risk of insularity. Consummate Washington entrepreneur Jim Glassman's defense of Bennett begins on a revealing note: "I have known for years that Bill Bennett gambles" -- at least since 1996 when Glassman's daughter reported on Bennett's high-rolling for the Las Vegas Sun. So what's the problem? If it wasn't a big deal with someone like Glassman, why should it be with anyone else? Glassman's confidence as a player is reflected in how easily he survived coauthorship of a book entitled, Dow 36,000. Maybe he's the real Sky Masterson.

Yet the most revealing comments in Glassman's column are the paragraph in which he makes a kind of libertarian Calvinist case for Bennett: "Bennett is a smart man and knows how to get his ideas across. That gift has made him rich, and he deserves his success. Anyone who knows him recognizes that, unlike many on the religious right, he is not a scold and a prig. He enjoys life. What he does with his money is his own business. He can buy a house in Aspen or a private jet or collect Impressionist paintings or travel to the Antarctic or dine out with family and friends at expensive restaurants every night. It's up to him." I wonder how such do-your-own-thing thinking would measure up in Catholic teaching, not to mention The Book of Virtues.

A final tribute to Bennett was paid by America Online, which on Tuesday polled users: "Was it hypocritical of Bennett to gamble?" Fifty-seven percent said, "Yes, he doesn't practice the virtue he preaches." Forty-three percent said, "No, it's legal entertainment and he seems to be OK financially." However tendentious, the wording didn't have to resort to labeling Bennett any sort of conservative or member of the religious right. It was taken for granted that he's a prominent American, caught in an embarrassing bind, famous enough to be the center of attention. No matter how unscientific, the AOL poll provided a fresh perspective.

For no matter how much he may deserve his success, Bennett also deserves to hear from people who can put two and two together. It'll be they who largely determine the extent of his future success.

******

p> The New Judgmentalism (posted 5/5/03 2:00 a.m.) br> In a final blow to the Clinton legacy, the quaint tolerance its namesake enjoyed at every dicey turn no longer trickles down. How else to explain the demise of bad-old-boy behaving coaches at the University of Alabama and Iowa State University? Next think you know it'll seem we're back in the 1950s.

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