Consider the following:
A 46 year old man is running for President. He has some good solid experience, but being that he is only 46, that experience is derided as “not enough”, or that it “doesn’t count as much because of the background behind that experience”.
His policies and “successes” prior to his running for President are, by no stretch, “far left wing”, rather they turned out to be relatively middle of the road – liberal on some, not as much on others. And even though the success stories were based on policies that were not against some conservative ideals (i.e., job growth, economic policy), he was derided by the right wing nonetheless as being a lightweight or too liberal.
When running for President, he had used a message of “hope” and used his personal story of coming from a less-than-stellar childhood or background to overcome the obstacles placed before him and rise to political prominence.
His speeches contained quotes like the following:
`This election is a race between hope and fear, between division and community, between responsibility and blame, between whether we have the courage to change, to stay young forever, or whether we stay with the comfort of the status quo.”
He talked about taking on the “status quo” as well as proclaiming that it was “time for change in America”. Another of his more spot on quotes was this one about private interests in Washington:
Our people are pleading for change, but government is in the way. It has been hijacked by privileged private interests. It has forgotten who really pays the bills around here. It has taken more of your money and given you less in return. We have got to go beyond the brain-dead politics in Washington and give our people the kind of government they deserve, a government that works for them.
He talked about a “New Covenant” so that America can move forward and turn the page from the policies of the past which were dividing the nation. He said in a debate that “we have got to have the courage to change” and that “the same old experience is not relevant”.
Those comments were spot on. All of them.
And they were also all made by then-candidate Bill Clinton in 1992.
The “youth vote” was heavily courted and nearly half of the eligible “young voters” were heavily engaged enough to vote him into office. At the time, it was a record in terms of percentage of young voters (since broken in 2004). And here we are now – fifteen years later, in a situation where the economy is in worse shape than 1992, there is more divide in this country than there was in 1992, we are more despised around the world than pretty much any time in our history, and people in all walks of life are fed up.
Just like Bill Clinton said in 1992 – this country is crying out for real change. It is in desperate need of a “new way to do things”. It is time to turn the page.
Bill Clinton’s words were spot on fifteen years ago. And they are still spot on today, regardless of what he (or Hillary) may think or say.
