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Journalism of Courage
Six months ago, Bill Clinton seemed to be settling comfortably into roles befitting a silver-maned former president: statesman, philanthropist, philosopher-king. Now he has put all that high-mindedness on hold 8212; maybe it was never such a great fit, after all 8212; to co-star in his wife Hillary8217;s campaign as a cold-blooded political hit man. No, scratch the 8216;cold-blooded8217; part. At times, in his attempt to cut Barack Obama down to size, Bill Clinton has been red-faced with anger; his rhetoric about voter suppression and a great big 8220;fairy tale8221; has been way over the top. This doesn8217;t look and sound like mere politics. It seems awfully personal.
Obama8217;s candidacy not only threatens to obliterate the dream of a Clinton restoration, it also fundamentally calls into question Bill Clinton8217;s legacy by making it seem not really such a big deal. That, for Clinton, is the unforgivable insult. The Clintons picked up on this slight well before Obama made it explicit with his observation that Ronald Reagan had 8220;changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not8221;.
But Obama has set his sights higher, and implicit in his campaign is a promise, or a threat, to eclipse Clinton8217;s accomplishments. Obama doesn8217;t just want to piece together a 50-plus-1 coalition; he wants to forge a new post-partisan consensus that includes 8216;Obama Republicans8217; 8212; the equivalent of the Gipper8217;s 8216;Reagan Democrats8217;. You can call that overly ambitious or even naive, but you can8217;t call it timid. Or deferential.
Both Clintons have trouble hiding their annoyance at Obama8217;s impertinence. Bill, especially, gives the impression that Obama has gotten under his skin. His frequent allegations of media bias in Obama8217;s favour recall the everybody-against-us feeling of the impeachment drama.
Obama hit back in an interview that aired on Monday on Good Morning America, saying the former president 8220;has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling8221; and promising to 8220;directly confront Bill Clinton when he8217;s making statements that are not factually accurate8221;. For Obama, it8217;s clearly an added burden to have to fight two Clintons instead of one. But at the same time, there may be benefits in having Bill Clinton take such a high-profile role in his wife8217;s campaign that the missteps and disappointments of the Clinton years are inevitably recalled along with the successes. Whatever the net impact, there appears to be no plan for Bill Clinton to tone it down 8212; not with the nomination still in doubt. The Clintons don8217;t much like losing.
So forget about the Bill Clinton we8217;ve known for the past eight years 8212; the one who finds friendship and common ground with fellow former president George H.W. Bush, who dedicates most of his time and energy to the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, who speaks eloquently about global citizenship, environmental stewardship and economic empowerment. Forget about the statesman who uses appropriately measured language when talking about transient political events, focusing instead on the broad sweep of human history. Forget about the apostle of brotherhood and understanding whose most recent book is titled, simply, Giving. That Bill Clinton has left the building. There8217;s a battle to be fought against an upstart challenger who has the audacity to suggest that maybe the Clinton presidency, successful as it was in many ways, didn8217;t change the world 8212; and that he, given the office, could do better. Some things, I guess, just can8217;t be allowed. Bill Clinton obviously has decided that history can wait.
