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Clinton, leave well -- and bad -- enough alone
Houston Cgrinical - Viewpoints ^ | Dec. 27, 2001 | ROSS K. BAKER

Posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:34 AM PST by CT

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Viewpoints, Outlook Dec. 27, 2001, 8:09PM

Clinton, leave well -- and bad -- enough alone

By ROSS K. BAKER
John Quincy Adams, upon retirement from the White House, ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. Ulysses S. Grant traveled extensively, dabbled unsuccessfully in the stock market and then sat down to write his memoirs because he needed the money.

Until now, however, only one president has set out on a methodical campaign to redeem his presidency in the eyes of historians.

That was Andrew Johnson, who announced on his return home to Tennessee after a calamitous administration that culminated in his impeachment, "I intend to appropriate the remainder of my life, short as it may be, in the vindication of my character."

Johnson's record now has been challenged by our only other impeached president, Bill Clinton, who has gathered a collection of political aestheticians to remove the unsightly pockmarks and blotches from his eight years in the White House.

It is an effort condemned to failure.

It was reported recently that the most legacy-minded of all U.S. presidents had convened a gathering in his New York offices of former White House staffers, ex-Cabinet officials and assorted Washington, D.C., hangers-on and courtiers to tell the story of his administration in a manner most flattering to Clinton. Although most of the dozen or so participants were tight-lipped about the meeting, enough information seeped out to suggest that the vaunted Clinton public relations operation will now be assigned to spin history.

If it were not so vainglorious an exercise it would be laughable. Rather than let the slow-grinding mills of history produce a balanced and fair picture of his incumbency, Clinton, like some ancient despot, has summoned his chamberlains and masters of the rolls to embellish the accomplishments of his reign.

There is something profoundly sad about this pitiable exertion to burnish an administration that accomplished a great deal and attempted but failed to achieve other worthwhile goals. The effort resembles that of the soldier who has served honorably but who adds to his résumé awards for valor that he has not earned, or the executive who puffs his credentials. When lesser figures apply cosmetics to their curriculum vitae and the puffery is exposed, it is profoundly embarrassing. When a former president becomes a revisionist of his history, the shame is greater.

Clinton always has been a reckless user of people. He lied to members of his Cabinet about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and sent them out to deceive others, making them part-owners of his falsehoods. No great respecter of truth, Clinton now enjoins his flacks and fabulists to bowdlerize history.

It might be that other presidents were eager for later generations to see them as nobler than they were, but aside from the hapless Andrew Johnson, only Clinton has convened a task force to accomplish it.

If Clinton feels uneasy about how future generations will judge his administration, he can use his autobiography to set the record straight. Dispatching a crew of euphemists with whitewash brushes to spruce up his blemished incumbency is unseemly and will only cause him to suffer ridicule, which in light of his important achievements, is undeserved.

Baker is a political science professor at Rutgers University.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Front Page News
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The only point I would disagree with is that Clinton did nothing good. He is bad through and through. And so is his hideous wife.
1 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:34 AM PST by CT
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To: CT
INMO< it's only a matter of time, maybe a year or so, before Monica realizes that her 15 minutes of fame is long over, and she accepts a multimillion $ advance to write the tell all book, about what really happened in the Oval office, and that, my friend, will be the final nail in Slick's coffin...
2 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:45 AM PST by ken5050
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To: CT
There is something profoundly sad about this pitiable exertion to burnish an administration that accomplished a great deal and attempted but failed to achieve other worthwhile goals.

This sounds like a liberal sycophant putting his toe in the water to see if it gets bitten off. The water is, of course, the very dim idea that Billy-boy was not (brace yourself!) perfect.

I would have to ask him to list the "great deal" that the administration accomplished. At that point he'd pop back into talking head mode and go back to spewing the party line as the cool-aid kicked back in.

3 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:45 AM PST by FrogMom
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To: CT
Amen to your comment! Evil thru and thru!

g

4 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:45 AM PST by Geezerette
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To: CT
The Clinton administration did anything good? When, I'd like to know. The author must be getting the tail end of the Reagan economy mixed up with the ensuing Clinton economy, which was based on grossly inflated tech stocks making non-existant virtual money on Wall Street, thus causing the "bubble" which was doomed to pop.

Look at Enron, possibly the biggest example of the Clinton economy. Look at where we are now, as a result of the Clinton economy.

As far as Clinton using his famed propaganda machine to change history: we should be afraid he'll succeed. We should be VERY afraid.

5 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:45 AM PST by cake_crumb
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To: CT
This article has already been Posted HERE
6 posted on 12/29/2001 12:12:58 AM PST by ResistorSister
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To: ResistorSister
Sorry to pick on you, but my biggest FR pet peeve are posts that say, "This article has already been posted...."

9 times out of 10, I never saw the earlier post, and I would guess that 90 Freepers out of 100 never saw it either, so what's the problem?

7 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:00 AM PST by My2Cents
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To: ken5050
it's only a matter of time... before Monica realizes that her 15 minutes of fame is long over, and she accepts a multimillion $ advance to write the tell all book

That's a very interesting angle, and one that had not occurred to me.

8 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:00 AM PST by backhoe
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To: ResistorSister
Thank you for letting us know, but I'm sure you know that the thread you posted at 5:57 AM is on the back page by now. I'm glad it was reposted, or I would have missed it. Mom - Dustbunnie - told me about it this morning, but didn't send the URL...out of fairness, I'll now read the replies to your original thread.
9 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:00 AM PST by cake_crumb
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To: My2Cents
Couldn't agree with you more!

Unless one sits at the computer for hours on end, reading every post, one will miss things.

If you go away from Free Republic for a couple of hours, the whole front page is gone, replaced by new and (mostly)interesting stuff. Who has time to go to the next page, and so on and so on.

I say three cheers to the double posters, and boo to the net nags who jump in to admonish them.

10 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:14 AM PST by altura
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To: altura
P.S. How hard is it to just skip an article you've already seen ... unless you want to jump in and complain about double posts. Duh.
11 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:14 AM PST by altura
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To: CT
Clinton's important achievements:
  1. Undefined the word "is".
  2. Gave B.J.'s an unprecedented popularity boost among impressionable teenagers; if he could do it, they could do it.
  3. Achieved the highest level of bodily fluid stains ever found in any public office.
  4. Undermined the military, CIA and FBI.
  5. Sold secrets to China in exchange for campaign donations.
  6. Turned the White House into The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington, D.C. - is it ok to say "whorehouse" on this forum?
  7. Longest running frat party in US history.
  8. Caught in the greatest number of illegal activities.
  9. Record number of mysterious deaths and disappearances of witnesses testifying against said illegal activities.
  10. Greatest number of political fiascos in US history:
    • WTC bombing
    • Marine Barracks bombing
    • US Embassy bombings
    • Oklahoma City bombing
    • Ruby Ridge
    • Waco
    • Elian
    • USS Cole
    • Kosovo
    • Somalia, etc.,...all of which led up to Sept 11, about which he made the two most repulsive comments:
  11. "I wish it had happened during my watch"
  12. Said Sept 11 was the fault of the US for slavery and bad treatment of Native Americans.

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...but why bother?

12 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:14 AM PST by cake_crumb
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To: CT
This is priceless. Much better than any novel. This effort by Clinton to rewrite his legacy will, in the end, become part of his legacy.
13 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:15 AM PST by GSWarrior
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To: cake_crumb
It will be rather amusing when his self-praising, mammoth library of fiction opens up. Think of all that fiction in that place! What a joke. There's nothing he can honestly say(when does he ever tell the truth?) that he did that resulted in such good for the economy or ever-recognizable credit. Moment of truth for ClinTOON.
14 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:22 AM PST by bushfamfan
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To: FrogMom
This sounds like a liberal sycophant putting his toe in the water to see if it gets bitten off.

Thats exactly what it is. I guess handing out the DNC talking points to the media and having them report it as fact is not as easy now that he is out of office. After all the ersatz veneer is stripped away history has already foudn Klinton to be person low on accomplishments, but high on propaganda proporting so.

I don't remember our last 5 presidents sending out their flying monkeys in an attempt to rehabilitate his legacy: which consists of Monica Lewinsky, impeachment, and the 9-11 attack on America.

15 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:24 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: bushfamfan
"It will be rather amusing when his self-praising, mammoth library of fiction opens up."

True. I think I'll take a vacation in Arkansas when his "library" opens, take a tour of the propaganda, snort loudly and use considerable lung power to spout corrections to every piece of propaganda I spot...IF security lets me inside the door, that is.

This whole "library" thing could provide tons of material for political pundits for centuries to come.

16 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:25 AM PST by cake_crumb
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To: CT
Commodes should be renamed "Clintons", or perhaps referred to as "Beelzebubba". Clinton will then have a legacy befitting him.
17 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:29 AM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: CT
bill clinton's achievements will cover several pages in this post. A few examples: Allowed bin laden's terrorist organization to grow, and get emboldened to blow up the WTC, the Pentagon, and several jetliners, allowed china to acquire nuclear weapons, and the method of delivery, degrade the office of the Presidency, pardoned terrorists, gangsters, and tax cheats, made perjury by a President, a non felony offense, made it possible for his wife to get an $8 million book contract,.....
18 posted on 12/29/2001 12:13:59 AM PST by desertcry
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To: ken5050
She should live so long.
19 posted on 12/29/2001 12:14:03 AM PST by Pushi
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To: altura
How hard is it to just skip an article you've already seen ... unless you want to jump in and complain about double posts. Duh.

I have two complaints about double posts.

1. It makes it harder to scroll through all the articles because of the increased number of articles.

2. One reason I frequent FR is for the replies, insights and comments of Freepers to the articles. I find this as valuable as the articles themselves. (The sensitivity of the collective Freeper BS meter is the best I know of.) With duplicate posts, much of this is lost. Links to previous posts help, but creat a more disjointed discussion.

I am more tolerant of duplicate posts that are >24 hours apart, but duplicate posts within 30 minutes are irritating.

20 posted on 12/29/2001 12:14:08 AM PST by B-bone
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