As my wife and I were flipping through the channels last night a funny thing happened. We landed on 60 Minutes. I had no desire to watch old Dan throw soft questions to the former president who is promoting his new book on his life and times. But as I listened to Bill and Dan's friendly banter, I decided that this might actually be interesting to listen to. My wife and I were in Washington D.C. the day that Clinton went in front of whatever committee it was he was testifying for (the whole "sexual relations" thing). I also got a kick out of him answering questions, "As I wrote in my book". True promotion at its best.
I did actually feel bad when CBS showed the clip of Hillary defending her lying husband and blamed the whole situation on a "Right-Wing Conspiracy". Sorry Mrs. Clinton, your husband actually did behave badly, us right-wingers really didn't need to help him on that one. And President Clinton says that he feels his impeachment fight was a "badge of honor". President Clinton, you got friendly with an intern, outraged a nation, nearly got kicked out of office, and you call your impeachment fight a "badge of honor". If you had left the intern alone you wouldn't have almost got impeached. A "badge of honor" is fighting for your country or standing up for what is right even though it isn't the popular thing to do, not getting in trouble because you played touch and tickle with Ms. Lewinsky.
After checking out Hugh Hewitt's site I came across this article by Fred Barnes that is not critical of President Clinton's book, but his presidency:
Clinton is not a failed president, only an insignificant one. In his interview with Rather to plug My Life, he claims two great accomplishments. One is "the creation of 22 million jobs." The other is the toppling of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the Balkan war. So Clinton takes credit, above all, for high job growth and a positive outcome in a relatively minor foreign policy crisis. One qualification: On jobs, while Clinton deserves credit, presidents merely make jobs a bit easier or harder for the economy to create. They don't create jobs themselves, except by expanding government. In sum, Clinton's twin achievements match Coolidge's almost exactly. The highlights of Coolidge's term were a flourishing economy and triumph in three minor foreign ventures.
There are three primary methods of assessing, then ranking, a president. None helps Clinton. The first, most-often-applied test, goes like this: Did the president face an unprecedented challenge, did he respond boldly, and was he successful? Because they passed this test so impressively, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt are rated by historians as the top three presidents. Clinton faced no great challenge to which he could respond boldly and successfully. He was president during the period Charles Krauthammer has dubbed a "holiday from history." In fact, Clinton has complained he had no major war or crisis to confront.
I did find it interesting that President Clinton felt that the people of Iraq were better off now that Saddam has been deposed. Of course he thought we should have been a little more diplomatic and should have sent more inspectors in, but at least he conceded that condition of life for the people of Iraq had improved and you can only inspect so much before it is time for action.
And President Clinton really doesn't like the nickname "Slick Willie". It has a certain charm about it in my opinion. Really telling about one's character.
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