I am still trying to figure out how the man who has won two presidential elections by a fairly comfortable margin has all of a sudden become a political pariah in his own party. In a difficult midterm election many Democratic candidates in close contest are attempting to distance their campaigns from him. Now it seems that Bill and Hillary Clinton who are much more interested in the next election rather than this one are trying to scoop up the fallen mantle of the party leadership.
In her latest vanity memoir Hard Choices Hillary Clinton attempts to paint herself as a secretary of state attempting to exercise bold leadership while being shackled by a wishy washy president. She followed that up with interviews. Having milked the claim for prime time face time, she then attempted to walk it all back as an unfortunate misunderstanding. Now husband Bill is doing his bit to rewrite American political history.
Toxic Partisanship? Bill Clinton Says He Had It Worse, Yet Got Things Done
President Obama heads into midterm elections in which he may face crushing losses. He has been spurned by his own party, whose candidates do not even want to be seen with him. The president’s supporters say the toxic atmosphere in Washington has made it impossible for Mr. Obama to succeed.
But there is a counter view being offered by a former Democratic president that as far as personal attacks go, he, Bill Clinton, had it worse. “Nobody’s accused him of murder yet, as far as I know. I mean, it was pretty rough back then,” Mr. Clinton said last month in an interview aired by PBS, when asked about the partisan climate facing Mr. Obama.
The underlying implication is that Mr. Obama does not have it so rough. Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Clinton criticize the current president for being less able or willing than his Democratic predecessor to woo congressional Republicans.
I am inclined to think that Obama's general policy positions have been fairly comparable to those followed by Clinton. It is really impossible to do a close comparison of any two presidencies, since the country is always faced with different problems during different period of time. It is also pretty clear that there has been a sustained trend of hardening of political partisanship over the past 20 years. The real difference between Clinton and Obama is a matter of personal style and behavior. The Clintons came to the White House with a basket full of messy personal sexual involvements and financial dealings. They managed to add some more while they were there. Whatever one wants to make of White Water, Bill's various sexual escapades and Vince Foster's death they were all based on some amount of reality to begin with. The perennial accusation against Obama has been about the place of his birth. Nobody has ever come up with any facts to back that up. Barack and Michele Obama have done a flawless job of presenting an image of a stable and healthy family life. Whatever problems they might have they have so far managed to keep them strictly private.
When Al Gore was running for president in 2000 he attempted to put as much distance between his campaign and Bill Clinton as possible. Clinton was not universally viewed as the shining hero of Camelot II.
The Clintons were running against Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008. They lost. It looks like they are attempting a do over of that campaign in 2014. Who knows how all this will play out, but Americans who find themselves lacking entertainment can take heart. That long running political soap As The Clintons Turn is back on the air.