William the conqueror
By David Nyhan, Globe Columnist, 6/28/2000
s it too late to ask if we can't just bring back Bill?
Is there a Third Term Caucus I can join?
Because any guy who can act as ringmaster for the unveiling of the human genone miracle, see in the near-distance the elimination of the federal debt, take his presidential sledgehammer to rocketing prescription costs for the elderly, and make peace furiously in the Mideast, Ireland, and between the two Koreas, then that fella has a knack for the job.
I am aware that whole pine forests have been slain, whole networks dedicated (I'm talking Fox TV and the Boss Fox, Rupert Murdoch), and whole industries focused (is talk radio an industry or just audio wrestling?) on the proposition that Clinton is a vile fellow who deserves to be impeached, jailed, flogged, exiled, and forced to pay off $20 million in legal fees by working as a counterman at McDonald's.
But even his enemies in Congress and The Wall Street Journal's executive suite are befuddled by the ease with which Battlin' Bill flits from triumph to triumph, surfing along on the great economic tidal wave that characterized his two terms. I have said before that I don't want a father figure in my president. Don't need a dad. I don't want a buddy, a blusterer, a scolder, a nag. I don't need a prez to tell me to eat my broccoli and swallow my spinach. I want a fair-minded, president, a tough-minded president, and above all I want a well-minded president, as in smart. The job is a crusher. Pressures are volcanic. Any chink in a personal or moral armor, the lava comes rushing in, and they're cooked. They all fail. They're all flawed. What's vital is how they come back. Can they take a shot right on the snoot and get up for the next round? Or do they have the china chin that busts on the first serious contact and renders them hors de combat for the duration?
His envious enemies call Clinton ''Slick Willie.'' ''He's the best liar I've ever seen,'' confided a Republican presidential candidate - in a tone that conveyed a certain ego-envy. I still think of Bill as the rube who rode into town on the back of the turnip truck, and found he was just as smart as the rich kids in the city. He reads more books in a week, I'll wager, than George W. reads in a year. Clinton has total recall, a photographic memory, for faces, books, intellectual arguments, and festering political saddle sores. Or a babe. Or a well-heeled contributor aching to be asked for an opinion on some weighty issue other than moolah.
William Jefferson Clinton learned a lot of lessons on the way up. But learning how to schmooze the rich and powerful was not the least of them. The boy can charm the birds out of the oleander bush. Talk a dog off a meat-wagon. Once he locks on to the retinas of a rich man or a comely woman, something clicks on. His prey hears the opening strains of ''I only have eyes, for yoooo, dearrrr.'' Then it's curtains. Where do I sign?
If you are satisfied with George Dubbaya's fumbling rationale for his execution of 130-odd fellow humans, then get ready for more. I'm not talking about whether you're for or against the death penalty - Clinton executed Ricky Lee Rector, Gore says he's pro-capital punishment, and Governor George Ryan is the gutsiest pol in the land for halting executions in Illinois till the innocent are weeded out of the queue. But when it comes to explaining complicated issues with lots of ramifications to people in language they can understand, I fear for the Bush boy.
I understand he has raised $90 million in cash with not-inconsiderable energy and a certain winsome cowboy charm. I don't know if I'm ready for four years of fractured syntax and mangled script-reading.
Everybody knows Al Gore is no Clinton. But he's had eight years of watching the master up close. Which makes him a president with a lot lower learning curve. But nobody looks at Gore and sees Clinton, unless you're a Republican campaign contributor. Or your name is Trent Lott.
I have covered every president since LBJ, put questions to every one since Nixon (the worst by a landslide) and I think most Americans are a little too dewey-eyed about their presidential candidates. Get real, voters; Santa Claus is not coming down the chimney at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
My notion is that the presidency is a job, and we hire someone to do that job, and their human frailities and mistakes must be counter-balanced by substantial strengths, virtues, talent. The pervasive and invasive news/infotainment biz strips our leaders of distance, majesty, and the remoteness that conveys power. TV puts them right in our face, and over-exposure turns them into objects of ridicule.
I heard a woman groan Monday, after listening to Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair emote about the human genome triumph, that Blair came across as ''a syrupy Cyril, and Clinton reminds me of W.C. Fields with his big bulbous nose.'' Fair enough. Or, unfair enough.
I just have this feeling that one year from now, Clinton's approval ratings will be higher out of office than they are now. And that many Americans will be singing, perhaps under their breath, ''Come back to the White House, Billy Cee, Billy Cee.''
David Nyhan is a Globe columnist.
**********************
How do you do that pukey smiley?
Dick
Want to send a message to Bush? Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/monk/petition.html and forward the link to every gun owner you know.
By David Nyhan, Globe Columnist, 6/28/2000
s it too late to ask if we can't just bring back Bill?
Is there a Third Term Caucus I can join?
Because any guy who can act as ringmaster for the unveiling of the human genone miracle, see in the near-distance the elimination of the federal debt, take his presidential sledgehammer to rocketing prescription costs for the elderly, and make peace furiously in the Mideast, Ireland, and between the two Koreas, then that fella has a knack for the job.
I am aware that whole pine forests have been slain, whole networks dedicated (I'm talking Fox TV and the Boss Fox, Rupert Murdoch), and whole industries focused (is talk radio an industry or just audio wrestling?) on the proposition that Clinton is a vile fellow who deserves to be impeached, jailed, flogged, exiled, and forced to pay off $20 million in legal fees by working as a counterman at McDonald's.
But even his enemies in Congress and The Wall Street Journal's executive suite are befuddled by the ease with which Battlin' Bill flits from triumph to triumph, surfing along on the great economic tidal wave that characterized his two terms. I have said before that I don't want a father figure in my president. Don't need a dad. I don't want a buddy, a blusterer, a scolder, a nag. I don't need a prez to tell me to eat my broccoli and swallow my spinach. I want a fair-minded, president, a tough-minded president, and above all I want a well-minded president, as in smart. The job is a crusher. Pressures are volcanic. Any chink in a personal or moral armor, the lava comes rushing in, and they're cooked. They all fail. They're all flawed. What's vital is how they come back. Can they take a shot right on the snoot and get up for the next round? Or do they have the china chin that busts on the first serious contact and renders them hors de combat for the duration?
His envious enemies call Clinton ''Slick Willie.'' ''He's the best liar I've ever seen,'' confided a Republican presidential candidate - in a tone that conveyed a certain ego-envy. I still think of Bill as the rube who rode into town on the back of the turnip truck, and found he was just as smart as the rich kids in the city. He reads more books in a week, I'll wager, than George W. reads in a year. Clinton has total recall, a photographic memory, for faces, books, intellectual arguments, and festering political saddle sores. Or a babe. Or a well-heeled contributor aching to be asked for an opinion on some weighty issue other than moolah.
William Jefferson Clinton learned a lot of lessons on the way up. But learning how to schmooze the rich and powerful was not the least of them. The boy can charm the birds out of the oleander bush. Talk a dog off a meat-wagon. Once he locks on to the retinas of a rich man or a comely woman, something clicks on. His prey hears the opening strains of ''I only have eyes, for yoooo, dearrrr.'' Then it's curtains. Where do I sign?
If you are satisfied with George Dubbaya's fumbling rationale for his execution of 130-odd fellow humans, then get ready for more. I'm not talking about whether you're for or against the death penalty - Clinton executed Ricky Lee Rector, Gore says he's pro-capital punishment, and Governor George Ryan is the gutsiest pol in the land for halting executions in Illinois till the innocent are weeded out of the queue. But when it comes to explaining complicated issues with lots of ramifications to people in language they can understand, I fear for the Bush boy.
I understand he has raised $90 million in cash with not-inconsiderable energy and a certain winsome cowboy charm. I don't know if I'm ready for four years of fractured syntax and mangled script-reading.
Everybody knows Al Gore is no Clinton. But he's had eight years of watching the master up close. Which makes him a president with a lot lower learning curve. But nobody looks at Gore and sees Clinton, unless you're a Republican campaign contributor. Or your name is Trent Lott.
I have covered every president since LBJ, put questions to every one since Nixon (the worst by a landslide) and I think most Americans are a little too dewey-eyed about their presidential candidates. Get real, voters; Santa Claus is not coming down the chimney at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
My notion is that the presidency is a job, and we hire someone to do that job, and their human frailities and mistakes must be counter-balanced by substantial strengths, virtues, talent. The pervasive and invasive news/infotainment biz strips our leaders of distance, majesty, and the remoteness that conveys power. TV puts them right in our face, and over-exposure turns them into objects of ridicule.
I heard a woman groan Monday, after listening to Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair emote about the human genome triumph, that Blair came across as ''a syrupy Cyril, and Clinton reminds me of W.C. Fields with his big bulbous nose.'' Fair enough. Or, unfair enough.
I just have this feeling that one year from now, Clinton's approval ratings will be higher out of office than they are now. And that many Americans will be singing, perhaps under their breath, ''Come back to the White House, Billy Cee, Billy Cee.''
David Nyhan is a Globe columnist.
**********************
How do you do that pukey smiley?
Dick
Want to send a message to Bush? Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/monk/petition.html and forward the link to every gun owner you know.
