Their
love affair is a wondrous thing that we’ll rejoice in remembering…and
thinking about…and writing about… and pontificating about…and arguing
about…and wondering about…and...
Say what you will about
Bill and Hillary Clinton, they are still married
when 50% of the rest of
America ain’t, and I think that’s something we all
ought to stop and think about before we buy into every last criticism
of America’s number one political couple.
Demonized, ostracized,
villainized, criticized, America’s favorite punching bag couple can’t seem
to catch a break, and I think that says more about America than it does
about the Clintons’. And what it says about America, if you ask me, isn’t
very nice.
Take off the glasses of
cynicism for a moment and think about what these two people have done for
their country, and maybe the picture isn’t quite what their critics would
have us think. Together as a yes, imperfect couple, and as individuals,
the Clinton's have devoted themselves to a lifetime of public service and
accomplished much for us all in doing so.
It guiles me, that I can
listen to the pundits talk incessantly about all of the Clinton negatives
but nowhere do you hear a voice of gratitude for all they have given
America.
Have they made mistakes
along the way? You betcha, but tell me, who amongst us hasn’t? Even the
almighty-NOT Ted Kennedy has chapters in his life he’d rather forget. Wasn’t
he the man who left a young woman (not his wife) to drown in a car at the
bottom of a creek? Yet, now he is called an elder statesman whose
endorsement of Barack Obama is considered unparalleled in importance.
There are other politicians
who have made mistakes in their lives. Even the sacrosanct JFK
himself
flagrantly cheated on his wife in the White House, and only the Lord knows
where else. Yet somehow the Kennedy name remains equal to that of the
Pope, while America seems unable to forgive Bill Clinton his indiscretions
even when the very person who he hurt the most did forgive her husband’s
misdeeds.
By the way, is it any
surprise that a Kennedy wouldn’t endorse a woman?
I was thinking about this
and America’s inability to forgive Bill Clinton for anything and to blame
him for everything when Ted Kennedy was waxing ineloquent about the new
promise of Barack Obama. “With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the
old politics of misrepresentation and distortion,” Senator Kennedy said
during his endorsement. He was alluding, of course, to Bill and Hillary
Clinton.
Speaking about the old
politics of misrepresentation and distortion, I was remembering the
campaign of 1960 and thinking Kennedy must be suffering from
Alzheimer’s Disease
to make such a statement, for how could he forget the filthy campaign the
Kennedy’s fought in order to get John elected?
Tomes have been written
about that time in American political history. I suggest the
Senator read
one or two of them to remind himself of the true nature of politics and
what it takes to get elected -- and what he and his sainted brothers were
willing to do to get their brother John into the White House.
The Clinton’s style isn’t
always pretty, that’s for certain; neither is Barack Obama’s. But the
Clinton’s are overt and obvious in their tactics – sometimes even crass -
and clearly they don’t mind getting down into the trenches to do what they
have to do to get where they need to go. Now Bill finds himself in a new
role, one I have called “The Adulator in Chief,” and, as we can all see,
he can’t seem to get his new role right.
Yet one thing is clear and
that is that he adores his wife and truly believes that she is the best
person for the job of President of the United States. And, you know what?
Say what you want about Bill Clinton, but I say that as a former President
of the United States, Bill Clinton ought to know the kind of
person that it takes to be president having been there himself. Ted
Kennedy, we decided, wasn’t up to the job.
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