Posted on 02/01/2002 1:04:24 AM PST by TheMole
COLUMN: Memo to Clinton: No, you can't buy me a drink
By Joshua Skolnick
Brown Daily Herald (Brown U.)
01/31/2002
(U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Watching the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, I experienced a fundamental change in the way I view our country. As a columnist, I spend a good amount of time gauging where we are as a country, and where we are going.
Last year, I wrote a column explaining exactly why Bill Clinton was correct in stating that the State of the Union is the strongest it has ever been in his farewell speech. Today, I realized exactly what was so bankrupt and empty about that statement. Today, Bill Clinton's America was finally swept into the dustbin of history as little more than an old page from a tabloid newspaper. Like an old relationship that was shallow and based on sex, Clinton felt like nothing compared to what we have now. The America of vacillation, of two-faced explanations, of posturing and politicking, now seems to have been put to bed. The New America is an America that is confident of its values. At Brown, many, like Clinton, are lost. We may spend endless time debating values, debating what the meaning of "is" is or the various ways we can deconstruct anything that anyone says. This is all very interesting, but when it comes down to it, and I am asked what my values are, I find that they were summed up beautifully by George W. Bush. His speech made me swell with love of country, and disdain for college. That speech made me want to live in America, not at Brown. I had been duped into falling in love with Clinton's America. Bush's speech made me realize just how wrong I was.
If Clinton was a womanizer (the "if" is probably unnecessary) than I am a woman. He got me. He made me think that this country's welfare was based on our sky-high stock market prices. He took me out to dinner, paid for everything, and told me that I had beautiful eyes. I was a fool not to notice the mischief going on beneath the table.
We were all taken in by Clinton. Year after year, he gave the most boring, detailed, laundry-list State of the Union addresses, and yet we clung to his every word. We scoffed at critics such as John McCain, who rightly stated that Clinton conducted a "photo-op foreign policy." We collectively stared into his eyes while terrorist camps were being armed in Afghanistan. This is not to be taken lightly. Our foolishness, in part, led to our vulnerability on Spet. 11. If the Clinton Era hadn't gotten us drunk on the "good times", we could have pressured our leaders to make terror-fighting a top-priority. Instead, we woke up with our clothes off.
In walked George W. Bush. On Tuesday night, he helped us put our clothes back on. He made us realize that we were more than our GDP, more than the latest tabloid. He gave us the shocking realization that this country is built on actual values. Free speech. Private property. Compassion for those who are less fortunate. Few other countries in the world with such power and prestige at their hand would actually mention, in what was the first assessment of the state of the union since a major foreign invasion, that we wanted to try to understand the peoples and the countries where this hatred is bred.
The speech on Tuesday night was like a cool glass of water the morning after a frat party. You can't believe you went home with that girl, can't believe you drank so much, but you're glad to finally be back home.
Unfortunately, Brown University doesn't quite feel like home. Essentially, the average Brown student is like a girl who has one bad experience with a male and then swears males off forever. When America commits one atrocity somewhere in Peru in 1979, or America is a bit too harsh on terrorists who, if not caught, would have tried to kill us, they swear off America forever. The fact is, America is a great nation. Certainly this is an opinion, but I look at the facts and feel proud of who we are, and who we are aiming to be.
When I remembered my statements about Bill Clinton's last State of the Union address, it was like reading an old love letter that you sent to a real whore of a girl. The bad news is, at Brown, that girl's best friend lives next door. The good news is, now, like a guest on Jerry Springer, I've got a new man.
That is a great line!
Well I'm glad to hear some are finally waking up ..
This should be the post of the day! Excellent!
I should add that just as we find a worthy man and we're learing to love and trust our president again, our ex's friends in the media are spreading rumors about how the breakup was all our fault, our ex has a legacy of honor, and our new partner is an alleged criminal. Besides they say, if we didn't like Clinton we shouldn't trust any president...they're all alike.
Yes, but once you've seen the light it's kinda hard to go back and live in the dark. Some of us have known he was lying all along, others suspected it and didn't want to believe it; some saw it and went into denial, and still others realized it and didn't care as long as they got what they wanted. The number of the faithful is dwindling and their likes can be found at the DU and other anti American socio/communist sites.
"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Good post. So immense was the lust of this one man, lust for women and for power, that he had the disgustingly grandiose and perverse of fantasies...to screw a whole country at once. Once he found a way to live that fantasy out, there was no stopping him. The Hollywood sluts and the media whores went along willingly, maybe even with excitement, much like Monica. A significant number went along because they hoped to gain something for themselves, like perhaps Elizibeth Ward Grayson or Dolly Kyle Browning. The "average" American was more like the average Clinton molestees such as Paula Jones and Kathleen Wiley upon whom he imposed himself in his uniquely crude and vulgar way. And if all else failed, he resorted to rape as with Juanita Broderick. And the best he could offer America in the form of an apology was "better put some ice on that."
I'm getting back up in my chair now, will wonders never cease?
MKM
I hope someone's watching this guy's back.
Will this be a 4 year conversion, or are these found values here to stay?
Here is another idea that has found a voice at Brown: Homeschooling Comes of Age
The LIBERAL elite really do need to get out more.
When Bush came in, he could have thrown a fit at the damages, started an investigation, etc. He didn't do that, though. A lot of us wanted him to. I know I did. He said we're going to move on. I'm not sure how many of us realize how brilliant the things were that Bush did BEFORE September 11. The Dems hadn't quit piling on or attacking him up until then, but he didn't have anything he needed to apologize to them about. He was able to move forward without having to mend fences, because he hadn't wasted political capital pushing them down. Man, it is so nice to have Clinton out of the White House. I've said it before, but Bill Clinton is the only person I know who makes Barry Switzer look classy.
Great article...I hope this young fellow has truly awakened.
I had this kind of epiphany when I was 22 and Ronald Reagan was president...I know exactly how this young man feels.
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