When I listen to Bill Clinton try to rationalize many of his now-unpopular policies and decisions as president, I begin to hear lyrics in the back of my brain.
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying
If he didn’t want to re-litigate his presidency, he should have used whatever influence he has with his wife to convince her not to run. If he wants to defend what happened to be people of color because of his crime bill, or if he wants to defend the results of his deregulatory schemes for the financial sector, he’s going to discover that no one really has any sympathy for him. The context of the times is lost, the upsides of the tradeoffs are gone. Older people have become numb to his explanations, and they make no sense to young people who didn’t live through the 1990’s.
I don’t really have a problem with him pointing out that when he walked into the Oval Office he faced a country racked with the crack epidemic, gang violence, and white racial backlash. I don’t mind him reminding us that there’s nothing very sympathetic about people who utilize young teenagers to work in their violent crack-dealing network and teach them how to kill their rivals. Call them predators, super-predators, criminals, or dickheads, it makes little difference to me. They belonged in prison, and no one should dispute that, least of all the people in the communities they victimized.
But people don’t criticize the crime bill for putting violent child-exploiting gangsters in prison. And they don’t appreciate the kind of politics that appeases white racial backlash by demonizing blacks, which is what the tough-on-crime messaging of the early Clinton administration often did, and was intended to do. Clinton simply doesn’t have the credibility anymore to speak on these issues, which is why he can’t really win even if what he says would be defensible coming out of someone else’s mouth.
As a political matter, Clinton’s presidency is now a distant ship remembered by the left primarily for its shortcomings rather than its strengths. The New Democrat energy that propelled the venture is a spent force.
I think Clinton often gets a bit of raw deal, but that’s my objective assessment. Politically, he’s a liability in the primaries, and he has no clue how to deal with that.
