When the Spinning Stops - Ex-Clinton aides on Clinton

NRO ^ | 10/14/03 | Rich Lowry

[gubamyster]

October 14, 2003, 8:32 a.m. When the Spinning Stops Ex-Clinton aides on Clinton. Sometimes the spinning stops. That's what I learned in the course of writing Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years. I talked to a couple dozen former Clinton officials. I talked to as many as would talk, in any way that would win their cooperation; I talked to them on-the-record, off-the-record, and on-background with the agreement they could look over any quotes I'd use. I talked to spinners and wonks and speechwriters and friends. And there were flashes of real forthrightness. If you think Clinton is a weak person, who made excuses for himself, and defeated Al Gore, and couldn't make a decision, and brought out-of-their-depth rank amateurs to the making of foreign policy, and had a pointless second term, and fundamentally misunderstood how to respond to the terror threat — and so on: You get the idea — you might be surprised that former Clinton officials agree with you. What appears below is hardly the sum total of all that I was told, but it is telling. There is only so much that can be said on behalf of a failed president; eventually reality intrudes and the obvious cannot be denied. Here, then, is some of what former Clinton officials say about Clinton: Bernie Nussbaum, former Clinton White House counsel, on Clinton's weakness: "The problem was Clinton's weakness in response to all that criticism. His mother, in her autobiography, talks of how, if there's a room of 100 people, and 99 of them like him, he'll spend all his time with that one person, trying to win him over. It's a dangerous prescription for leadership. But trying to get everyone to like him is an essential part of his personality." Mickey Kantor, former Clinton secretary of commerce and trade representative, on the Monica scandal: "It's his own fault. No one did this to him. He did it to himself. No one brought this on him except himself." Elaine Kamarck, former Clinton domestic-policy adviser and Gore aide, on the 2000 election: "Clinton sort of softened up the environment for Gore to be cast as someone who wasn't genuine. Nobody ever thought that Gore had Clinton's exact problems; but they were willing to think that since Clinton was a sleazy guy, there was probably something sleazy with Gore, too." Don Baer, former Clinton communications secretary, on Clinton's lax decision-making: "I think he wanted to understand the various sides of issues before he came down hard on them.... It may be that the process of doing that, at the end of the day, required too much time and too much lack of discipline to really focus himself and his administration." Richard Holbrooke, former top Clinton diplomat, on how Clinton and the administration were intimidated by then-Joint Chief of Staff Colin Powell: "Powell overwhelmed most of the new administration. They were children in his eyes, and he was an awesome world figure in theirs." Dick Morris, former Clinton pollster, on Clinton's wasted second term: "I believe that Bill Clinton totally and completely wasted his second term. Partially due to his laziness in 1997, in 1998 he was totally tanked up by Monica, and in 1999 and 2000 his entire presidency was devoted to the single goal of getting his wife elected to the Senate." Robert Reich, former Clinton labor secretary, on Clinton's wasted second term: "[T]here wasn't very much political capital left in the second administration — the second term — for new initiatives." Jim Woolsey, former Clinton CIA director, on Clinton's 1993 cruise-missile attack in response to an Iraqi assassination attempt against former President Bush: "After a while, they fired a couple dozen cruise missiles into an empty building in the middle of the night, which is a sufficiently weak response to be almost laughable." Eric Holder, former Clinton deputy attorney general, on the flaccid, law-enforcement response to terrorism: "Ultimately the mistake was the response. We put it in the hands of the FBI and the Justice Department, when it should have been in the hands of the Defense Department, because bin Laden was more than the equivalent of a Muslim mob guy." Alice Rivlin, former Clinton budget director, on Clinton abandoning deficit reduction after his 1994 congressional defeat: "The president lost his nerve a bit on deficit reduction...and that was a very discouraging period for those of us who thought it was really important." Donna Shalala, former Clinton Health and Human Services director, on the folly of the Hillary health-care plan: "The program that was developed was too complex...you really had to go to the Hill with principles and start working your way through to get more coverage. A few minutes into it, we knew that. [But] the commitments had been made. Commitments to the First Lady, and to Ira Magaziner, and to a whole organizational scheme for doing it. It wasn't like the president wasn't told that's [a go-slow approach] what he should do." Lanny Davis, former Clinton scandal lawyer, on how the Democrats first created "the politics of personal destruction" in the 1980s: "We used the scandal machinery. We abused it. And we set the precedent." Howard Paster, former Clinton congressional lobbyist, on Clinton's lack of a guiding philosophy in decision-making: "I don't think the decisions were consistently ideological, because there were different players in every decision." Tony Lake, former Clinton national-security adviser, on Somalia: "In Somalia, we inherited a bad mission and made it worse.... In truth, we were sloppy in how we adopted that [nation-building] as the mission." Mickey Kantor on the 1990's economy: "No one should claim that what we did, what President Clinton did, created the eight most productive years in the history of the United States. No one should claim that." — Rich Lowry is author of Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years.

[billorites]

The long knives come out.

We didn't have to wait long.

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[Peabo]

I read that earlier on my own. Two quotes really stuck out in my mind:

1) Lanny Davis on the politics of personal destruction and

2) Mickey Kantor on the 90's economy.

[eureka!]

Likewise. Those two were most surprising. As to Lanny, he always seemed to try to justify in his heart what he was saying in the 'Toon's defense. Kind of a Susan Estrich character, a lib/Rat defender that isn't 100% sold out. Time will tell as more of these articles/books on the true legacy of the grifting Clinton are written....

BTW, welcome aboard to FreeRepublic...

[UCANSEE2]

bookmark

[UCANSEE2]

bookmark

[SGCOS]

Gotta wonder what Ron Brown, Jim McDougal and Vince Foster would have said.

[Pagey]

Mickey Kantor on the 1990's economy: "No one should claim that what we did, what President Clinton did, created the eight most productive years in the history of the United States. No one should claim that."

All I've been waiting to hear is for 'ONE' Clinton Sycophant tell the truth about the 1990's economy and I believe this book will lay the groundwork to refute the consistent and outright lie that somehow "HE" was responsible for it. I'm proud to see that now that they have some distance away from the Clintoons, that they're actually pulling out the harpoons.For Mickey Kantor to publicly state that sentence, is beyond a miracle IMO.

[Miss Marple]

Look here at what Lanny Davis and Mickey Kantor said.

I bet Clinton is re-writing that book yet again!! HA!

[Miss Marple]

Look here at what Lanny Davis and Mickey Kantor said.

I bet Clinton is re-writing that book yet again!! HA!

[PRND21]

Bump for the clinton legacy.

"We used the scandal machinery. We abused it. And we set the precedent."

[jonno]

legacy bump

[Tijeras_Slim]

The long knives come out.

They've got nothing to lose. After all, the payoff for being a loyal FOB has always been to be thrown under the bus as required.

[Dog]

Thanks Jane!

[FlyVet]

As to Lanny, he always seemed to try to justify in his heart what he was saying in the 'Toon's defense. Kind of a Susan Estrich character, a lib/Rat defender that isn't 100% sold out.

Yeah, Davis used to be a regular on G. Gordon Liddy's show. G used to introduce him as "Defending the indefensible." LOL.

This author was interviewed by Imus this morning. He also mentioned the number of times Clowntoon met face to face with his CIA and FBI directors. I forget the exact numbers, but you could count them on one hand. Un-freaking-believable. Big public persona, total waste of oxygen.

[r9etb]

For Mickey Kantor to publicly state that sentence, is beyond a miracle IMO.

It is beyond a miracle. So much so, in fact, that one must ask what it is he's trying to do with this statement. Is he trying to set up somebody else's spin -- say, Joe Lieberman or Weasley Clark? Or is he trying to get in front of people who might be looking into the economic realities of Clinton's policies?

I think it may be a combination. The DNC drumbeat is "it's Bush's economy," despite the fact that the downturn -- not to mention the huge corporate scandals -- began on Clinton's watch.

Along those lines, I recently read something about the "unbridled greed of the '90s," in a surprising place (I don't recall where, it might have been a Newsweek quote).

IMHO, Kantor is still a shill, still spinning for Clinton to absolve him -- and also any Democrat candidates -- of being tainted by present economic difficulties.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Ex-Clinton aides on Clinton

Just where he likes them.

[GOP_Proud]

< when it should have been in the hands of the Defense Department, because bin Laden was more than the equivalent of a Muslim mob guy." >

This one was my pick as most interesting.

Well...just duh?

[finnman69]

Fantastic quotes....bookmark time.