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Old 07-19-2004, 08:41 AM
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Brookie
Old and in the Way
 
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: High and Dry
Posts: 789
Wow - This should probably be in the arguholism section. You'll get lots of responses from hatred to love to respect tinged with deep disappointment. He's not a person that people are neutral about. I probably fall in the last group - I have great respect for him as a leader, but was disappointed that he allowed himself to be brought down by a stupid mistake. "Kennedy of the '90s" may be a pretty apt description.

I voted for Clinton twice, and I give him pretty high marks for presiding over a period of relative peace and unprecedented economic growth. As you saw, he is a very good communicator, and I think he could have been a "great" president (in historical terms), but shot down his own legacy through his affair with Monica Lewinsky. At the end of the day, I think I probably view him as a tragic figure - someone whose own human weaknesses caused his own pretty horrific downfall. I also think the conservative wing of the Republican party shares responsibility, and that they were in full attack mode to find or create a scandal that would destroy him from the beginning of his presidency. (Others will surely disagree with me on this point).

Republicans in the US really hate the guy. They will tell you he is a liar (and he did lie about the Lewisnky affair), that he has no moral compas, and that he bears responsibility for the World Trade Center attack because he didn't pursue Osama aggressively enough. I think that's far too hard a judgment on him.

Interestingly, the far right of the Republican party keeps vocally predicting that Hillary Clinton is plotting a run for the White House in 2008, and is secretly pulling the strings behind the current election cycle to make sure she has a shot then. She may have presidential apirations, but as a Democrat I think she'd be a terrible, polarizing choice. I hope they're wrong. I do think they're nostalgic for Bill Clinton as someone they demonize to use to get their voters to the polls.

That's my 2-cents. Let the games begin!
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