Clinton in retrospect...

This is from NRO's "morning jolt" email that I receive. It generally annoys me when partisans come to find the merits of their old-time foes as some sort of argument against their current foe (for example how liberals love leading conservatives once they're dead; e.x. Reagan, WFB, etc.. And I'm sure there are examples going the other way.).

And there is a little bit of that in the message, but I also think there is some genuine appreciation involved. Anyway, thought it was worth posting:

1. Get Better, Bill


Bill Clinton's hospitalization seems like a good moment to reflect on how he looks a little better as a president ten years later, with the contrast of the Obama administration. My opposition to Clinton goes back to when FreeRepublic.com was getting breathless updates from the anonymous and mysterious "Quidam" -- updates which I think didn't pan out -- and most of his misdeeds from that era still look pretty ugly.

But with time, we begin to appreciate things we didn't realize at the moment, and what sticks out now is that Bill Clinton in many ways really was a "Bubba" -- he loved engaging with Americans of all types, something we haven't seen in many leading Democrats since then. He had his arrogant moments, but it's hard to imagine him explaining to a crowd of San Francisco liberals why small-town Americans are bitter and cling to guns and religion. Obama is adored by the elites and obviously can campaign in the worst neighborhoods of the most troubled cities, but he sticks out like a space alien in diners and truck stops. He (and to a certain extent Al Gore and John Kerry) can relate to deep-fried-Twinkie Americans only as their secular savior. And even if Bill Clinton's "y'all gotta hear about my Astroturf in my pickup truck" routine was an act, Clinton still felt like he owed whoever was in front of him his best back-slapping, extroverted charisma. (For a long time, it seemed like Hillary didn't have this quality, until she started throwing down shots and beers in the Pennsylvania primary.)

There's a lot of road still left to travel in Obama's presidency, but in many ways it seems to be echoing Clinton's early years -- a health-care reform effort that turns into a quagmire, scandals involving cabinet appointees, erupting fissures among congressional Democrats, a reunited and rejuvenated opposition, and a general overestimation of an electoral mandate. The 1994 Republican Revolution slapped Clinton hard in the face, and he recovered by veering to the center (including his signature achievement, a fairly conservative version of welfare reform). Obama seems to be offering us a fascinating alternative scenario: 2010 might be similar to 1994, but this Democratic president might not veer to the center. It's not his style, and it's not what he thinks he was elected to do..."

[edited for typos: 12:56PST - EIS]