I'm intrigued by all the disapproval of former President Bill Clinton's recent speech-making. When Senator Ted Kennedy is unhappy with the Clintons, you know it's an unusual time.
Some have criticized Mr. Clinton's bare-knuckled comments to promote his wife's candidacy as "un-presidential" which seems like a fair charge to me. What happened to ex-Presidents and a long tradition of publicly-muted retirement? I've long been enamored with Mr. Clinton's intelligence, his command of complex issues and I do believe he cares about the average citizen. He's also a magnificent speaker and a gifted politician and a Dem with some fiscal moorings. There's much to admire in this man.
On the other hand, he used the Oval Office like a sex parlor, deceived the American people about it, lied under oath, rented the Lincoln bedroom, pardoned billionaire tax cheat Mark Rich and one could go on. How consistently did he behave in a "presidential" manner while in office?
I was disappointed by his indiscretions because I'd hoped Bill Clinton would be a Democrat that I could admire without reservation. He is somewhat different from the see-no-evil tax and spend pack he runs with.
After all, we haven't seen a surplus since Bill Clinton left the White House. His peccadilloes aside, I'll give him some credit for those balanced budgets and we need a dose of fiscal responsibility -- now.
