The New York Times reports that voters are developing Clinton fatigue. I'm not just tired of the Clintons, I have full-blown Clinton Stress Disorder. It started early in the first Clinton term, when Hillary ruined the possibility of health care reform. She wasn't willing to compromise on any detail, she wouldn't even listen to opponents. But that was just a preview of what happened when...
the Lewinsky scandal broke. Bill wouldn't admit that he had done anything wrong; instead, he lied to the American people, lied to his closest advisers, and lied to a grand jury under oath. It was wrong for the most powerful CEO on earth to have sex in the workplace with a young intern, and it was even more wrong for him to lie about it.
When the lies finally came out, Bill and Hillary decided to keep fighting back. They asked us to support them as they fought to keep the White House, and we did. That's how MoveOn originated!
While we fought for Bill and Hillary to stay in the White House, we lost so many other opportunities. The Lewinsky scandal and fight against impeachment consumed most of the second Clinton administration. There were so many lost opportunities for liberal reform, for changes that ordinary voters really needed. Even worse, the Clintons' fight cost Democrats the White House in 2000. By prolonging the Lewinsky matter for so long, the scandal cast long shadows over the 2000 race. Al Gore would have won an easy and clearcut victory if it hadn't been for the long, long fight over Bill's flagrant workplace misconduct.
What if Bill Clinton had admitted he was wrong and gracefully resigned? What if Hillary had stood by him, not to keep the White House at all costs, but while he stepped down and allowed Al Gore to take over? Gore was an accomplished Washington leader; he could have easily taken over and continued the agenda that Clinton and the Democrats were trying to pursue. And Gore probably would have won in 2000, continuing progress.
Good leaders know when to fight and when to work with others; health care reform and other serious policy issues require working with others. And good leaders know when to admit they were wrong and hand the reins over to someone else. The Clintons don't seem to make those distinctions.
Hillary is a fighter, but that's not a good trait when it's unrestrained. Obama is a fighter too; community organizers aren't passive people. But he knows how to temper his fighting instinct with judgment and listening to others.
The unrestrained instinct to fight is what led us into Iraq--with Hillary Clinton's vote. The determination never to give up is keeping us mired in a destructive war we can't win. American soldiers are returning to America with real post-traumatic stress disorder. Thousands of others aren't returning at all. Hillary mourns those deaths, but she helped to cause them with her own politically calculated vote. Voting for war was the popular thing for a presidential hopeful to do at the time
So I'm not just tired of the Clintons, I'm haunted by them. They have been obstacles to progress in America for more than a decade. They talk about a lot of good programs, but their personal politics keeps getting in the way of accomplishment. It really is time to move on--to someone who opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, who is willing to listen to the other side, and who does not have a history of holding onto power despite the good of the people.