The existence of Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama proves one thing: the character of a single man can affect history. The “great man theory” of history is true: one man can change the world.
Not that Clinton, Bush or Obama are great men, although Obama, who’s only 46, may turn out to be, if he comes anywhere near walking all his pretty talk.
Let’s consider the characters of our former president, our current president, and our future president, and their effect on your life.
First, Bill Clinton.
Slick Willie. The biggest bullshitter of them all. Great personality, but very little character. Smart. Calculating. Desperate to be liked. And because of his empathy and charisma, very attractive to women, and being a Big Libido Dog, very willing to chase them down and bonk them. (You can be sure at this very moment Bill Clinton is bonking any number of women: probably a regular one near his home in Chappaqua, another regular one at work in Harlem, and a few regulars in the world's main cities, plus the groupies he picks up for one-night stands.)
And there you have it: we’ll remember his presidency for the fact that Monica Lewinsky fellated him in the White House. Funny that: when he became president, he could finally score an upper-class girlfriend, instead of the white-trash bimbos he nailed before.
Being smart and calculating, Slick Willie will also be remembered for cleaning up after Reagan and the elder Bush and leaving us with actual budget surpluses, helped by the internet making our economy more productive. He will also be remembered for stealing Republican ideas and unlike the Republicans, making them real — like shrinking government and reforming welfare, things Reagan talked about till he was blue in the face but never lifted a finger to fix.
But not being a very moral man, Bill Clinton will also be remembered for, along with the UN, doing nothing about the biggest tragedy of our time happening under his nose: the Rwanda genocide.
So he prevailed in the good times, and did not make them worse, except stand by idle while 800,000 Tsutsis got macheted by Hutus in the biggest genocide since Pol Pot offed his countrymen by having his minions put plastic bags over their heads (when they can’t afford bullets, mass murderers come up with all sorts of cheap solutions).
So, no legacy to speak of from Bill Clinton, because his character doesn’t go much deeper than being a good-old-boy bullshitter (heck, even the spectacularly incompetent Jimmy Carter can point to a legacy of having put human rights on our foreign policy agenda). The effect of Clinton’s character on your life? Negligible. The economy was OK. And the tabloids gave you equal parts dismay and laughs. Remember the semen on the dress? The cigar? The meaning of “is”? Bill’s wife, being less of a bullshitter, and more truly compassionate, would have made a better president than him, but she’s lost her chance.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Wow Adam, this one is so amazingly out of touch with reality it's like you're channelling messages from another universe.
Nice to see you're warming up to Bush, though.
Dave
2 - maria
this is a great article. I hope that more Americans allow themselves the opportunity to read through some of your insight. Well done!
3 - bliffle
Engrossing article with an interesting Point Of View. But a little long.
4 - Georgio
Adam ..It was a long article but I read it all and I agreed with most of it ..First of all I don't think you where fair to Hillary..after all she did get 18 million votes and she won the states that the Dems need to win in the general and O bama won states that we will not win in the general especialy the south..
I am from Chicago and have followed Obamas rise from the beginning..truth is he never would have even become the Democratic candidate to run for the ticket if his opponent who was 17 pts ahead of him didn't have a wife who went on TV and said he is a wife beater,,so Obama won the right to face the republican candidate who also was favored to win the election but can you believe it ..the repulican also had a scandle that did him in so one might say OBama became a Senator by pure luck..I would also say he beat Hillary with pure luck also because if the association he had with the reverend and others was known from the beginning he would not have gotten to first base .
I am a Democrate and will vote for him but I have serious problems with him ..In the beginning I liked him because of his message of hope and a new beginning that politics in Washington would change..But the longer the fight went on the more he sounded just like every other politician..
The black community backed him 94% and if that is not raceism in reverse than I have a bridge I want to sell to you..the GOP will exploit this because they will put doubts in minds of white voters because they are not worried about turning the blacks against them because they know they are not going to get thier votes anyway...
Adam I hope he can be the kind of President that will help this country but I see no chance at all unless Hillary is on the ticket and right now I don't see that happening.
5 - Baronius
Georgio, that's interesting because I can't see Obama winning with Clinton on the ticket. Second-guessing from Hillary, third-guessing from Bill, parallel organizations... it would be the worst thing for party unity. A party unifies under one leader, with no looking back.
Dave, I found the article interesting because it probably accurately reflects the views of people I disagree with. It's interesting to see facts (and opinions) used as building blocks to create something I'd never imagine. It doesn't make sense to me that someone could look at Obama and see coolness and character, but the truth is that some people do.
6 - Georgio
Baronius..the reason I say Hillary has to be on the ticket is because she won states that the Dems need to win ..Obama won states that the GOP will win in the general..any other VP that he picks could get him one or two states but this election will come down to Fl ,OH ,PA, Mich..Obama can't win these states without Hillary.
7 - Baronius
Georgio - I don't buy into this thinking that FL, OH, PA, and MI are wearing chastity belts that only Clinton can unlock. Clinton won two of those states because Obama didn't campaign in them. In Ohio, the GOP has made such fools of themselves that I can't imagine them voting for a Republican for a decade. That leaves Pennsylvania, the state of bitter gun-toting Bible-thumpers. They've got more problems with Obama than a running mate could solve.