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The Sorrow of Bill Clinton
National Review Online ^

Posted on 09/28/2001 1:03:58 PM PDT by VinnyTex

The Sorrow of Bill Clinton
It’s all about him.

By John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
September 28, 2001 3:40 p.m.

 

No president obsessed over his "legacy" as much as Bill Clinton did. He sometimes complained that he had no enormous national crisis to contend with, meaning that he didn't have a fair shot at attaining historic greatness. "The first thing I had to start with was, you know, we don't have a war," he told the New York Times in 1997. "We don't have a depression, we don't have a Cold War." Poor guy. He never really had a chance.

Some of us worried whether he was up to handling Haiti, never mind a global crisis. It's no surprise, however, that he's in a funk now, as his successor is being lauded for his handling of a national catastrophe, praised for delivering one of the great speeches in American history, and hurtled into stratospheric levels of popularity according to the opinion polls that Clinton so treasured during his tenure.

Today's New York Times describes Clinton as lamenting that such a thing didn't happen on his watch. Richard L. Berke reports, "A close friend of Mr. Clinton put it this way: 'He has said there has to be a defining moment in a presidency that really makes a great president. He didn't have one.'"

More than 6,000 people die to terrorism, and Bill Clinton still thinks it's all about him.


Economic Consequences of the War
Prospects for trade promotion authority — which lets the president's men negotiate trade deals that Congress agrees not to amend, but only to approve or disapprove — looked pretty bleak before the September massacres. Now they're looking, if not great, at least better.

Part of the reason is the bipartisan sentiment that the president should be free to conduct foreign policy. Trade liberalization tends to be achieved by strong presidents overcoming congressional parochialism and logrolling. When presidents are weak, protectionism surges. It was after the Reagan administration was crippled by Iran-contra that Dick Gephardt was able to pass legislation authorizing retaliatory tariffs against countries deemed to be "unfair traders." And it was a sign of Clinton's second-term weakness that he was unable to win trade-promotion authority (then called "fast track"). President Bush's political strength has, of course, increased dramatically since September 11.

Bill Thomas, the chairman of the ways and means committee, has made passage more likely by reaching a compromise with New Democrats. The compromise includes some provisions on labor and the environment. But as Brink Lindsey, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, notes, that should not be a red flag to free-market advocates so long as the language is "hortatory not mandatory." Since we're not going to be able to get other countries to sign a global free-trade deal with such conditions, there's no reason for Bush's trade negotiators to take the labor-and-environment provisions too seriously.

A more serious problem is that the compromise asks negotiators to protect the country's egregious "anti-dumping" laws, which target countries that commit the crime of selling products to us too cheaply. This demand should be softened: Negotiators could be asked to safeguard the goals of anti-dumping laws, such as they are, without necessarily committing to the laws themselves. But at least the compromise ignores the proposal of Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, that the president's authority not extend to any deal that would require a change in American laws — which would abort negotiations before they even start.

The global economy could use trade liberalization at the moment, not that it's relevant to the political dynamics on the Hill. After the attacks, currency markets saw the typical flight to safety — which hit the economies of Latin America, especially Brazil and by extension Argentina, hard. As Mark Falcoff of the American Enterprise Institute has noted, the continent is already backsliding from democracy. We don't need instability to our south right now, or demands for U.S. aid.

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, an increasingly influential voice in Republican economic-policy debates, thinks trade-promotion authority can pass. "It's important for the economy, and it's important for national security," he says. "We have no choice. We've got to pass this. It's too important."



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1 posted on 09/28/2001 1:03:58 PM PDT by VinnyTex
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To: VinnyTex
"The first thing I had to start with was, you know, we don't have a war....We don't have a depression, we don't have a Cold War."

Poor x42, having to suffer the "consequences" of Ronald Reagan's presidency.

2 posted on 09/28/2001 1:09:15 PM PDT by mountaineer
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To: VinnyTex
More than 6,000 people die to terrorism, and Bill Clinton still thinks it's all about him.

This guy is such a loser.

3 posted on 09/28/2001 1:09:43 PM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: VinnyTex
B.J. Clinton is one sorry excuse for a human being. I'm not even sure this jerk is human. He's a complete disgrace!
4 posted on 09/28/2001 1:15:24 PM PDT by Lucky2
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To: VinnyTex
After his mess-up in Somolia, let's be glad he didn't have much chance.
Except for that poor camel that got the $2million cruise missle up its rear.
5 posted on 09/28/2001 1:15:32 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: mountaineer
Some other poster had his title one better at x42(i).
6 posted on 09/28/2001 1:18:52 PM PDT by Thebaddog
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To: VinnyTex
Bill Clinton was 8 years of national crisis.
7 posted on 09/28/2001 1:19:15 PM PDT by There's millions of'em (billclintonisagreatdemocrat.org)
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To: VinnyTex
Actually, he had opportunity after opportunity and squandered it. The embassy bombings were an opportunity and he did nothing much. The Cole was an act of war and he did nothing much. Cowards never see opportunity. They have their heads buried in their pillows in fright.

He could have done everything that President Bush is doing now and would have been deemed great by history. Instead, history will judge him by opportunities given and not acted on. He will be on the list of the worst of our Presidents because he cared more for himself than he did for Country.

8 posted on 09/28/2001 1:19:25 PM PDT by beekeeper
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To: VinnyTex

9 posted on 09/28/2001 1:22:18 PM PDT by Diogenesis
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To: VinnyTex
I remember reading some comments last year from a member of Clinton's staff who asked not to be identified. I never knew how truly pathetic Clinton was until I read those comments.

The guy said that during the 2000 campaign Clinton's attitude about candidate George W. Bush was a bizarre mix of extreme anger and wistful envy. On several occasions Clinton expressed his displeasure about how a plain-speaking, easy-going (and "dumb," in the minds of Democrats) guy from Texas could attract so much attention without any effort. Clinton was particularly despondent because even many people in the media who had been Clinton's strongest apologists actually LIKED Bush.

In retrospect, the defining moment of the Bush administration came during the six-week hiatus between Election Day and the end of the Florida recount debacle. The BBC had a round-table discussion about the U.S. election results that included a small group of talking heads from both the U.S. and Great Britain. One of the British panelists launched into a simpering, sniveling attack on George W. Bush for his lack of intelligence, "stealing the election," etc. Lanny Davis was one of the panelists (yes, THAT Lanny Davis!), and he proceeded to tear a new @sshole or two into the British guy.

When I heard about this afterward, I was quite confused. I mentioned it to someone who knew George W. Bush personally from years ago, and he could only laugh about it.

"You have to remember," he said, "that Lanny and George were classmates at Yale -- and nobody who has ever known George W. Bush will ever have a bad thing to say about him.

10 posted on 09/28/2001 1:22:34 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: VinnyTex
The Sorrow of Bill Clinton

This was a mistype. It should have said "That SorryAss Bill Clinton".

11 posted on 09/28/2001 1:26:24 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: VinnyTex
'He has said there has to be a defining moment in a presidency that really makes a great president. He didn't have one.'

Translation:
Bill Clinton would have gladly allowed twice as many citizens to be murdered if it would have given him the chance to bite his lower lip and "feel our pain".

12 posted on 09/28/2001 1:27:03 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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To: Lucky2
.J. Clinton is one sorry excuse for a human being. I'm not even sure this jerk is human. He's a complete disgrace!

It' so disgusting..........Hasn't the Media figured out by now that we don't want to hear any more about that creep?....When will they get over their love fest with that abominable excuse for a man?..........He is so pathetic, wallowing in his own self pity......We've had enough already!!! CEASE AND DESIST, YOU PANDERING MEDIA. You have a REAL PRESIDENT TO WRITE ABOUT NOW..

13 posted on 09/28/2001 1:28:37 PM PDT by Uff Da
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To: Howlin
"It's all about him."

Have you been communicating with the National Review?

14 posted on 09/28/2001 1:32:18 PM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: VinnyTex
Isn't it interesting that Clinton defines greatness by some type of American Crisis where he can be the chief mourner and grief counselor? If I were Clinton I would consider myself the luckiest guy in the world to have run for and gotten elected to President at what had to be the lull in American Politics. That era between the end of the cold war and now. What else could he want he had a great economy, no thanks to him, and no war. Kind of like the 1950's with Ike. But a guy like Clinton so wishes he could have been FDR except we all know that Clinton has a yellow streak a mile wide down his back, but hey when did that stop people from sending kids into battle?
15 posted on 09/28/2001 1:33:57 PM PDT by brisco county, jr. (jjhunsecker@hotmail.com)
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To: VinnyTex
How sweet it is!
16 posted on 09/28/2001 1:35:45 PM PDT by E=MC<sup>2</sup>
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To: Uff Da
I am very near the path of the biggest tornado in recorded history, OKC May 3, 1999. That man came here on the first day they were going to let people back in to try to salvage what they could of their lives and held everybody up with his terminal lateness. He made them stand in the sun and wait for him. And wait. And wait. His helicopters (I think there were 7 or 8) cruised up and down the damage path so he could get a good gawking in. Then he had to have his photo op and give a speech to the sunburned people of Del City, Oklahoma, and promise them all free federally funded storm shelters. (I don't think they ever materialized.) Then he finally left and the people were allowed to get to the task of picking through rubble.

I also had kids I was babysitting ask me "what's oral sex?" because of Clinton. They didn't know I had instituted a No TV rule and had turned on the news while I was busy changing a diaper.

That was Clinton in a crisis. When the crisis comes to you you lie. When you can't find a crisis anywhere else, you create it with your immoral behavior.
17 posted on 09/28/2001 1:36:04 PM PDT by ChemistCat
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To: SAMWolf
Poor Bill can't seem to figure out what the DEFINING MOMENT of his presidency was?

In case you forgot again Bill, it was your response to the overweight intern snapping her thong at you.

18 posted on 09/28/2001 1:37:54 PM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: VinnyTex
He has said there has to be a defining moment in a presidency that really makes a great president. He didn't have one.

He had a defining moment--"Ahh did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinski." It just didn't make him a great president--in fact, it was just the opposite...

19 posted on 09/28/2001 1:39:08 PM PDT by NonZeroSum
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To: mountaineer
"The first thing I had to start with was, you know, we don't have a war....We don't have a depression, we don't have a Cold War."

Woe is he...nothing to do but dork 22 year old interns and...well....finish himself in the sink.

Too bad we can't trade this despicable bast*rd for one of those killed by the terrorists.

20 posted on 09/28/2001 1:39:10 PM PDT by Cautor
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