Falling Out of Love With Bill

[babylonsister]

Falling Out of Love With Bill
Could Democrats and Republicans be finding new common ground—in seeing the ugly truth about their erstwhile heroes?


Illustration by Jack Unruh


Until he was an ex-president, I never felt any special fondness for Bill Clinton. From the start, he seemed a bit skeevy to me. On the night in 1992 that he accepted the nomination, as he dined in midtown with Hillary and the Gores, he was introduced to a reporter from Spy, of which I was then editor. The future president smiled, popped to his feet, and ushered the reporter off for a private chat. Spy had just published a cover story called “1,000 Reasons Not to Vote for George Bush—No. 1: He Cheats on His Wife.” “I want to thank you guys,” Clinton told the man from Spy, “for leveling the playing field with that piece you did on Bush’s girlfriends.” But were there more women? he asked repeatedly in the course of a several-minute-long chat.

Nor did my admiration increase, six years later, when he obliged me to answer questions from my daughters, then 8 and 10, about semen stains—“How did the stuff get on the dress, Daddy?” and “But why didn’t she take it to the cleaners in three years?” (And people wonder why the latest generation of Democrats is not bedazzled by Clinton nostalgia.)

Yet despite all his sleazoid tendencies, he was, of course, a pretty good president—and he turned out to be an absolutely exceptional ex-president, the best of our lifetimes. The William J. Clinton Foundation is an ambitious, effective mega-NGO, with pragmatic approaches to tackling the problems that beset the poorest countries—HIV/AIDS, tropical diseases, foul water, undercapitalization. It is to the U.N. what HBO is to PBS, nimble and exciting instead of elephantine and ungovernable.

Each of the last three summers, I saw Clinton interviewed live onstage, and each time I was agog. The breadth and depth of his extemporaneous command of information and nuance—about green economics and technology, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, electoral politics—were extraordinary. He was supersmart, nuanced, witty, casually eloquent.

In other words, so not George Bush. Clinton’s Energizer Bunny philanthropism since he left office would have rehabilitated him on the merits, but by comparison to his successor he seemed like some golden demigod, a living reminder of what an American president could be.

Until this year. For me and most of the people I know, the postpresidential love for Bill Clinton has evaporated completely and breathtakingly fast. No matter how many mosquito nets and microloans he helps supply to the Third World, I’m out of love. I found Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Obama two weeks ago especially gratifying not in spite of its fuck-you to his former patron but because of it.

more...

http://nymag.com/news/imperialcity/45783/

[bemildred]

1. Bah. HBO is "nimble and exciting"?

The Clinton's have spent enough time in the White House. Once we get that settled, let them do what they like.

[midnight]

2. I didn't George Bush cheated on his wife? Why isn't that

reported on like Bill's girlfriend. Well, I guess our politians aren't God's after all. Poor us.

[Baby Snooks]

8. It was never a secret...

But the media knew Barbara Bush was NOT Hillary Clinton and that if they printed it, she would take a cast iron skillet and whack the hubby up the side the head for being indiscreet and then whack the reporter up the side of the head for being indiscreet as well.

It should be pointed out that George HW Bush didn't bring the indiscretions home so to speak. Which Bill Clinton did.

Some wonder of course if George W Bush is indiscreet as well but then he has become such a narcissist on top of everything else the only person who turns him on at this point is George W Bush so the only indiscretion is probably when he whacks himself in front of the mirror so to speak.

[babylonsister]

9. No, it wasn't too secret. Check this out:

http://www.voxfux.com/features/bush_child_sex_coverup/franklin.htm

[Baby Snooks]

10. One of many stories that weren't "developed"

The media during the first Bush Administration seemed as muzzled as the media is during the second Bush Administration. The Bushes seem content to allow the innuendo to remain just that. Innuendo. At some point, however, the innuendo does seem to indicate something more than innuendo. But they are "royals" and are "above it all."

The closest anyone has ever gotten to publishing an "indiscretion" was Kitty Kelly who wrote about the night vice-president George HW Bush was arrested after a traffic accident near the Capitol. According to the "rumors" he had someone contact Alexander Haig who was dining with Nancy Reagan. Alexander Haig took care of the matter and returned to dinner and of course shared the details with Nancy Reagan who of course returned to the White House and hit "autodial" and spread it around so to speak. He apparently had become "distracted' by the "female companion" and rear-ended someone. And had been drinking.

Supposedly the Washington Post did pick up on the accident and possible arrest and contacted the Bush home and Barbara Bush was adamant that her husband had spent the entire evening with her at home. And probably proceeded to take a cast iron skillet and whack him up the side of the head. In any case, the media refused to pursue the story. Probably out of fear, again, of the cast iron skillet.

Republican wives for some reason don't seem to mind any of it - as long as they are discreet and they pay the Neiman-Marcus bill I suppose.

A good Republican wife is really a good Stepford Wife.

[nichomachus]

12. Actually, there's more

According to Kitty Kelley's book -- well worth the read despite the multi-million dollar smear campaign against it -- Poppy Bush has a regular concubine who accompanied him regularly on foreign travel. The rule was that she was the only non-official to stay on the same floor as Bush. One night, someone went to her room for something and Bush, wearing a bathrobe, answered the door. It was well known that he was shacking up with her.

[Baby Snooks]

15. Private lives and public lives

The "morality" of a man is found in the private life but the private life of course is going to be reflected in the public life.

Reality is the reflection is not a good one with most of our politicians. But particularly not with Bill Clinton. The Oval Office was not his office. It was and is our office. It was the ultimate desecration of our sense of propriety in this country. He not only degraded Monica Lewinsky with his cigar he degraded all of us.

I have always found both the Clintons less than admirable from the moment Hillary pulled her "I'm not some little woman" act on 60 Minutes.

They are both liars. And they are both hypocrites. And they are both serving their own agenda and always have been and their agenda is not the people's agenda. But then you know most of the Democratic agenda doesn't seem to be the people's agenda any more than the Republican agenda these days.

They cashed in big time once. They merely want to cash in big time a second time. That is really why they want the White House.

They are really nothing more but whores. Both of them. And if I had a radio show, I would say that on the air.

[TomBall Democrat]

19. I can't confirm it - but there is a persistent rumor here in

Houston that the first Bush was unfaithful to Barbara, and has a mistress and child living here in Houston.

It's a rumor, that's all.

[mod mom]

3. We didn't have the internet access to research his policies as well as now we can see

the effects of the policies had on our economy. (and it's not pretty!)

TRADE: NAFTA was bad enough but what about China? What about the Telecom act of '96 who was the impetus for media consolidation that gave way to the right control message? What about support of baking mergers that lead to our current financial crisi?



Clinton to renew Normal Trade Relations with China



June 2, 1999
Web posted at: 4:51 p.m. EDT (2051 GMT)


WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 2) -- President Bill Clinton will notify Congress Thursday that he is renewing China's most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status -- now known as Normal Trade Relations (NTR) -- for another year, CNN has confirmed.

MFN/NTR status offers low tariffs and treats countries as normal trading partners.

The formal notification, required by the Thursday deadline, is expected to trigger a major debate in the House and Senate due to allegations of Chinese espionage against the U.S. and other recent diplomatic tensions, including charges China tried to influence the 1996 presidential election with illegal campaign contributions.

One of the first speak out against Clinton decision, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), derided the president for making the decision near the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

-snip

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/06/02/china.mfn/



Clinton Proposes Renewing China's Most-Favored Trade Status

Congressional reaction mixed amidst larger China policy issues


WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 3) -- President Bill Clinton on Wednesday proposed renewing most-favored-nation (MFN) trade status for China, saying it was "clearly in our nation's interest" as he urged Congress to support the request.

-snip

House Speaker Newt Gingrich welcomed Clinton's recommendation for renewing MFN status for China, and vowed to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure that China receives it from Congress.

Gingrich, joined by Reps. Bill Archer (R-Texas) and Philip Crane (R-Ill.), made his comments in a letter to Clinton.

-snip

House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt issued a statement Wednesday opposing Clinton's plan to extend China's trading status for another year.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/06/03/china.trade/


It's not exactly an advertisement for the working-class hero, or a picture her campaign freely displays. Her lengthy support for the Iraq War is Clinton's biggest liability in Democratic primary circles. But her ties to corporate America say as much, if not more, about what she values and cast doubt on her ability and willingness to fight for the progressive policies she claims to champion. She is "running to help and restore the great middle class in our country," Wolfson says. So was Bill in 1992. He was for "putting people first." Then he entered the White House and pushed for NAFTA, signed welfare reform, consolidated the airwaves through the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (leading to Clear Channel's takeover) and cleared the mergers of mega-banks. Would the First Lady do any different? Ever since the defeat of healthcare reform, Hillary has been a committed incrementalist, describing herself as a creature of the "moderate, sensible center" whom business admires and rewards. During her six years in the Senate, she's rarely been out front on difficult economic issues. Given her proximity to money and power, it's not hard to figure out why she keeps controversial figures close to her--even if their work becomes a liability for her campaign.

-snip
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/berman

[mucifer]

4. you are forgetting about Clinton's harsher sentancing laws that

disproportionately affected people of color although he did apologize for it but how much is that gonna help people in prison:

http://www.sentencingproject.org/crackreform.aspx

"Bill Clinton Admits 'Regret' on Crack Cocaine Sentencing
In a keynote address last week, Bill Clinton gave an unexpected apology for his involvement in what has turned into the national symbol of racial disparity and unfairness in the U.S. justice system, federal sentencing policy for crack cocaine offenses. "I regret more than I can say that we didn't do more on it," Clinton said. "I'm prepared to spend a significant portion of whatever life I've got left on the earth trying to fix this because I think it's a cancer." USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham asked Clinton if he regretted not eliminating the sentencing disparity because of the imbalanced impact it has had on black communities. Clinton's response, according to USA Today, was that it was "politically impossible" to get the reduction he sought through Congress, and added that the 1986 guidelines were a mistake that have taken a heavy toll on blacks.
In a keynote address last week, Bill Clinton gave an unexpected apology for his involvement in what has turned into the national symbol of racial disparity and unfairness in the U.S. justice system, federal sentencing policy for crack cocaine offenses. "I regret more than I can say that we didn't do more on it," Clinton said. "I'm prepared to spend a significant portion of whatever life I've got left on the earth trying to fix this because I think it's a cancer." USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham asked Clinton if he regretted not eliminating the sentencing disparity because of the imbalanced impact it has had on black communities. Clinton's response, according to USA Today, was that it was "politically impossible" to get the reduction he sought through Congress, and added that the 1986 guidelines were a mistake that have taken a heavy toll on blacks. "

[mod mom]

7. I did not know this-Thanks for the information.

[truedelphi]

16. Baking mergers? I think under Bill Clinton most of the WH House chefs

Were fairly decent, if prone to dishing out the high calorie type treats that Bill liked.

Or maybe you mean banking mergers...:-)

[nashville_brook]

5. a great article written by Kurt Anderson of Studio 360 and Spy Magazine...

it's spot-on and a damn good read. thank you for posting this!

[Doctor_J]

6. I think he's driven away 1/2 of the 65% who liked him in Jan 2001

in no small part because he could have been a major factor in sweeping Obama into the WH in November. But with the campaign he & Hil have waged against Obama, I don't think he can help much at all.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Personally I believe PBS is the best thing on television,

other than that, I don't have a problem with the article.

I fell out of love with Clinton's narcissism sometime between the Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal and the longest walk down a hallway in political history just so the cameras could gaze at his splendor during the 2000 convention, that was to nominate Al Gore for President. For every step he took, I liked him less.

[juno jones]

13. Great article

Thanks for sharing!

[samsingh]

14. i'm feeling disappointmnt in Bill

[Cha]

17. And this in New York Magazine..perfect!

"Telling the truth, or not, has turned out to be a leitmotif of this election. “ Clinton’s an unusually good liar,” his fellow Democrat (and Hillary endorser) Bob Kerrey said of the president back around the time the First Lady was visiting postwar Bosnia. Thanks to the news footage of her unremarkable, sniper-free landing on the tarmac in Tuzla, we now know that Hillary Clinton is an equally brazen but unusually bad liar. (And her gratuitous fibbing has also served to turn one of her husband’s most significant accomplishments, imposing peace on the former Yugoslavia, into a setup for a joke.)"

This Bosnian Sniper Lie is never going away. It's taking Obama to expose the clintons..they had no idea what was going to hit them.

[Eric Condon]

18. I agree with the OP article's point, but "the best ex-president of our lifetimes?"

I think Carter pretty much has a lock on that one.

[IDemo]

21. Seconded

[FiveGoodMen]

22. Absolutely!

[jhrobbins]

20. I will never fall out of love.

[MasonJar]

23. Not too many people in the US and the world are falling out of love with Bill.