You know, I do not discount Bill Clinton’s effectiveness on the stump or whenever he does some kind of townhall event in this campaign. He is an excellent speaker and his ability to connect with an audience is probably undiminished. But his effect on the national media narrative seems to me to be pretty near disastrous for his wife’s campaign. I keep seeing clips of him on the trail where he is disobeying his handlers and giving sound bites that come across as petulant, strident, and angry. I have many reasons to oppose a restoration of Clintonism, but Bill Clinton’s presence was not originally one of my reasons. That’s changing.
I really do feel some kind of visceral discomfort watching a former president campaigning against fellow Democrats. It seems like Bill Clinton needs to win this campaign to achieve some measure of redemption for having been impeached for perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. I know he loves campaigning, but he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. He seems desperate, almost like a cornered animal. I found the clip of him justifying the disenfranchisement of the Nevada culinary workers to be particularly troubling. He kept saying that the culinary workers were going to be given five times the weight of other voters. I have no idea where he got this idea or if it has any merit, but it seemed to be an example of rank dishonesty.
I confess that I oppose Hillary Clinton’s campaign less for her own record than for the record of the Clinton administration (as a whole) during the Bush years. But until recently I hadn’t really focused on the role of Bill himself. Yet, watching him in action I feel really uncomfortable about how he might inject himself into the governance of the country if his wife becomes the president.
I think he is debasing the office of the presidency by his insistence on actively campaigning. It seems wrong to me. And it certainly doesn’t help that he has been transparently engaging in hardball politics where he seeks to curtail the turnout for his opponents (Iowa students, Nevada casino workers) rather than focus on boosting the turnout for himself.
I’d never support Hillary’s campaign, but Bill Clinton’s prominent role in her campaign is making me more and more militantly opposed to their restoration.
In a way, I feel bad for Bill. He has stepped outside the bounds of what is appropriate for an ex-president and it will only make his eventual defeat all that more detrimental to his legacy.
Unless, of course, they win. In that case, how will anyone ever get him to shut up?