The Clinton Albatross - Bill’s not exactly a fireman. He may instead throw gasoline on the fire.

National Review Online ^ | December 20, 2007 | Victor Davis Hanson

[neverdem]

December 20, 2007, 0:00 a.m.

The Clinton Albatross
Bill’s not exactly a fireman. He may instead throw gasoline on the fire.

By Victor Davis Hanson

If polls are accurate, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s once-sure bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is now not so sure. Her wide lead vanished without warning in Iowa and New Hampshire — and maybe elsewhere as well.

Was it due to her waffling on issues like the Iraq war and driver’s licenses for illegal aliens? Or was her campaign too smug — like that of similarly sputtering Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani — assuming she should be coronated by the polls and media rather than having to fight for the nomination tooth and nail?

Or is it just that her upbeat, confident rival, Barack Obama — with a little help from Oprah — is surging as he bests her in back-and-forth quips?

Hillary’s campaign is so stalled that her advisers have tried dredging up Obama’s kindergarten essays and his admitted drug use. And now they’re resorting to flying in Bill Clinton to save the day. Some polls and conventional wisdom suggest he may yet restore his wife’s fortunes.

But Bill’s not exactly a fireman. He may instead throw gasoline on the fire.

First, his vote-getting abilities are suspect. He never won 50 percent of the vote in a presidential election. That fact and the embarrassment of his impeachment were why Vice President Al Gore kept him away from his 2000 campaign. True, Bill’s presence is said to resonate with African-American voters, but most may prefer Obama anyway, as polls now show in South Carolina.

Second, Bill Clinton often comes across as a narcissist. He talks the longest and loudest about himself. It is almost impossible for first-person Bill to praise Hillary without adding, “When I was president” or “I had a vision.”

Third, Bill cannot always distinguish truth from fiction. In his rescue mission for Hillary, he has already weighed in on the Iraq war — in which he falsely claimed that he was against it from the very beginning.

Most recently, in a dig at Obama’s lack of experience, Bill claims that he nixed an earlier run for the presidency in 1988 because he saw that he wasn’t yet ready for the job. But the real reason more likely was worry about the less-than-desirable and now well-known aspects of his personal life. That tendency to dwell on — and fudge — his own past earns splashy headlines but takes attention away from his wife.

Fourth, Americans may not be comfortable with a spouse of an ex-president running for commander-in-chief. Alabama’s governor George Wallace once had his wife, Lurleen, run as his replacement when he was no longer eligible. Despite Lurleen’s victory, that staged succession seemed fishy — sort of like the current husband/wife switcheroo of former and current president Mr. and Mrs. Kirchner down in Argentina.

The Clintons need to tread carefully so that Hillary does not appear a mere bridge for Bill’s drive for a third term. When he steps in to talk nonstop in their co-defense, it appears that she’s not quite in full control of her own destiny.

If Hillary is elected president, will Bill likewise butt in when the Congress or foreign leaders are mean to his wife or her rankings tank? The last thing the would-be Democratic nominee wants is more “Bill Clinton Makes the Case for His Wife” headlines like we saw all last week.

Fifth, Hillary’s campaign can’t control Bill. Ex-presidents don’t exactly have small egos, and Clinton, something of a loose cannon, is bound to shoot his mouth off whenever and at whatever he pleases. He now brags that Hillary will send him out with George H. W. Bush to undo the damage of Bush Senior’s son, the current president.

And in a recent interview with talk-show host Charlie Rose, Bill embarrassingly gushed that Hillary “is so good.” Then he went on to trash Obama — while denying he was doing just that. No wonder that Hillary’s frantic campaign handlers were said to have been offstage trying to cut short the Rose interview.

Bill also claims that Hillary has already been “vetted” — hinting that Obama, in contrast, hasn’t been fully investigated and may well have more skeletons that someone may uncover. Yet part of Hillary’s current trouble is the public’s anger over her campaign’s past unsavory use of just that rhetorical trick: digging up dirt on opponents while claiming you’re not.

If Bill keeps this sloppiness up, some might almost wonder whether he really wants his wife to win — and thereby have her overshadow his own presidency by being both the first woman president and the Clinton who did not suffer impeachment due to self-inflicted scandal.

Hillary may yet end up the Democratic nominee. But only if she alone convinces America — and Wild Bill — that she’s running for her first, not his third, term.

© 2007 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

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[Christian4Bush]

VDH bump

[Bernard]

But Bill’s not exactly a fireman. He may instead throw gasoline on the fire.

But in Fahrenheit 451, that's what a good fireman did. And since so much of the Clinton message and legacy is fiction, the irony is, well, ironic.

[neverdem]

VDH!

[HAL9000]

Bill claims that he nixed an earlier run for the presidency in 1988 because he saw that he wasn’t yet ready for the job. But the real reason more likely was worry about the less-than-desirable and now well-known aspects of his personal life.

Clinton didn't run in 1988 because Al Gore jumped into the race first.

[sageb1]

“Bill Clinton often comes across as a narcissist.”

Clinically so.

[Reaganite1984]

Betsy Wright.

[Enchante]

"Most recently, in a dig at Obama’s lack of experience, Bill claims that he nixed an earlier run for the presidency in 1988 because he saw that he wasn’t yet ready for the job"

ROFLMHO! You weren't ready in '92 or '96 either, Slick Willie!! Yet, with the aid of a groveling MSM, the harmful Roos Perot, and two rather lackluster Republican candidates you were somehow able to weasel your into the Presidency with around 43% of the vote. How you ever got re-elected, Mr. Stainmeister, is a mystery, even if Bob Dole did prove to be one of the weakest national party candidates in a very long time.

The idea that Bill Clinton decided in 1987-88 that he was "not ready" to be President is such a howler - that narcissistic fraud has been running for the Presidency since he was 10 years old. It is well known that he backed off in '88 because (1) no one in the 'Rat party gave him a chance, and (2) the developing Clintonista cabal was afraid that his reckless philandering would make him unable to win. Then the supine MSM, with CBS "60 Minutes" connivance, helped to "launder" the Bill & Hill show for a national audience in '92 and the rest is (tragic) history.

[HAL9000]

Betsy Wright supposedly talked him out of running, but it was widely reported at the time that Gore's candidacy was a big problem for Clinton.

Clinton made the right decision not to run in 1988. The Gennifer Flowers scandal could have sunk him back then, but then Gary Hart had his problems, so the Clinton "bimbo eruptions" were less shocking by 1992. Clinton would have gotten away with everything if he hadn't ordered a state trooper to invite Paula Jones up to his hotel room one day.

[Caipirabob]

Simply put: Regardless of the astounding incompetence of his wife, I don't want Bill Clinton back.

[Theresawithanh]

It's been fun to see what happens when Bill gets out on the stump for his WINO*, when he can stop talking about himself to even mention her, that is. She'll probably be the dem nominee, all the missteps aside, but hopefully we'll have the guy who can beat her on the GOP side.

*Wife-in-name-only

[driftless2]

Whatever venture Bill Clinton gets into is strictly for the benefit of Bill Clinton. Everybody else, including his dearly beloved wife, is strictly subsidiary.

[yoe]

The Clintons want a Third Term. They will bring with them the baggage of eight previous years, same' ol faces, same 'ol rhetoric the only possible difference is that they will push even harder for Socialism - the reason both are popular with the UN. Both lie with ease, neither has done much for their country, especially Senator Clinton - Laura Bush has done more for children than the Senator has ever done - does that qualify Mrs. Bush to be president? We all know what Senator Clinton has done, she is a champion at bimbo eruptions and that's about it, that and threats when the Senator wants her way. Simply put, the Senator is not honest period….nor is she a leader…she is a divider. The Senator and her disgraced husband believe in the (Third Way) and have used it to govern….they are not pro-America. They are all about Ruth Bader Ginsberg Marxist law.

[ASA Vet]

Does Hillary share Huma with Bill?

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

The true legacy of Bill Clinton:

1) A tanking economy
2) A war that only one side was fighting (not us)
3) 100 dead Americans, incinerated in an armor attack
in Texas

Semper Fi,

[backhoe]

[rod1]

Vetting can’t even begin to happen until the Clinton archival papers are fully released and publically examined.

That should be the response to any such idiotic comments concerning Hillary—her experience and/or vetting. That the data exist and are being deliberately withheld at the request of the Clintons says all we need to know.

[CASchack]

Rush has been making the point that Hilde wants BJ front and center.

[iopscusa]

The Clinton vetting will began in earnest if she becomes the nominee...hopefully we have the brains to get this done right. No personal attacks just the overwhelming facts and those archives must be available.

[backhoe]

Rush has been making the point that Hilde wants BJ front and center.

Interesting- a sort of "Return with us now to those golden days of yesteryear!"
( The Lone Ranger TV series )

And I've seen the theory advanced that Little Big Fraud views the election of Hillarrhea! as a reversal of impeachment, and vindication...

Two more good reasons to do everything to make sure it doesn't happen...