I'm Just a Bill.
Taranto weighs in with a number of good points regarding Clinton's epic performance with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" (transcript). Taranto's analysis focuses on whether a number of Clinton's key assertions were truthful, and showed that not much has changed since the Clinton presidency - truth is not relevant in a world where "is" has not been clearly defined.
Senator Clinton's husband surprised me in his loss of composure. While Clinton's term in office was marked by his scandalous personal behavior, a gathering terrorist threat, and brazen corporate fraud and deceit, he always came across as warm and collegial. Much of the country was, and remains, entranced by his positive nature. I always figured that he would be fun to spend time with at a party - while the girls hanging around might not be the prettiest, there would be plenty of them, and most of them would be drinking.
At this time, though, I think he is getting a bit cranky, maybe even nuts. He is not having as much fun as he ages, and is showing frustration as he sees that his enduring legacy is focusing on his adultery, failing to sufficiently address terrorism, and gutting the military. To compound matters, more and more rational Americans are realizing that the years of budget surplus were illusory, fueled by taxes paid on gains in the booming stock market, which in turn was the product of wild speculation and the aforementioned corporate fraud. The bills would be paid later, as stock prices reverted to the norm, terrorism became a front burner issue, and the military rebuilding process erased those surpluses and some.
I hope he can regain control of his composure, and become the "fun" Bill Clinton, again. If Hillary is in the Oval Office, maybe he can show her a few of his favorite office tricks, there, for old times sake. At the rate he is going, he appears headed for a fate worse than being Hillary's First Man - being the second coming of Jimmy Carter.
Senator Clinton's husband surprised me in his loss of composure. While Clinton's term in office was marked by his scandalous personal behavior, a gathering terrorist threat, and brazen corporate fraud and deceit, he always came across as warm and collegial. Much of the country was, and remains, entranced by his positive nature. I always figured that he would be fun to spend time with at a party - while the girls hanging around might not be the prettiest, there would be plenty of them, and most of them would be drinking.
At this time, though, I think he is getting a bit cranky, maybe even nuts. He is not having as much fun as he ages, and is showing frustration as he sees that his enduring legacy is focusing on his adultery, failing to sufficiently address terrorism, and gutting the military. To compound matters, more and more rational Americans are realizing that the years of budget surplus were illusory, fueled by taxes paid on gains in the booming stock market, which in turn was the product of wild speculation and the aforementioned corporate fraud. The bills would be paid later, as stock prices reverted to the norm, terrorism became a front burner issue, and the military rebuilding process erased those surpluses and some.
I hope he can regain control of his composure, and become the "fun" Bill Clinton, again. If Hillary is in the Oval Office, maybe he can show her a few of his favorite office tricks, there, for old times sake. At the rate he is going, he appears headed for a fate worse than being Hillary's First Man - being the second coming of Jimmy Carter.
posted by Steve at 9/26/2006 02:06:00 PM
3 Comments:
Re: "I hope he can regain control of his composure, and become the 'fun' Bill Clinton, again."
Why hope? Really? The fun one is more insidious and dangerous than the unhinged one. At least when they are unhinged, some (not all) of their true colors emerge. All of his arrogance, all of his monstrous ego and all of his spin were painfully obvious in that interview. (If he was so afraid of being sandbagged on Fox, why agree to the interview?) Also note the despicable reply he gave about the perks of being an ex-Pres: You can read the paper and think that bad news is somebody else's problem. So much for e pluribus unum, which we may not always display, but which a former pres should certainly attempt to embody.
I thought the "fun" Bill made for more entertaining news - I found his skirt chasing to be comical, while this new, crazy old man act, is more pathetic, and possibly more dangerous than you might presume. The old Bill was more of a "good old boy", and his fans, while many in number, were slow to action, perhaps inebriated. He seems to be trying to rally them, perhaps all liberal/socialist types, in ways that guys like Kerry or Gore never could.
He's not pathetic in the literal sense of "deserving of pity." And I'm not sure his fans were slow to act, as witnessed by the squeaker elections of 2000 and 2004. But yes, his skirt chasing was comical.
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