Bill needs to forget about his legacy and let Hillary run on her record.
For all the political instincts and emotional intelligence Bill Clinton has, he seems to be blind to how the political climate with regards to crime has completely changed since he was president. His massive ego compels him to say dumb shit too, in an attempt to defend his own legacy as president. He has to let it go.
Sometimes, the explainer-in-chief should just shut up.
How will BIll’s outburst affect Hillary’s support from the black community? Is Bill thinking about this?
At least it didn’t take him longer than 24 hours to get this out. And at least he acknowledges, again, that aspects of the bill were and are, unjustifiable.
This.
I’ve spent hundreds of words trying to bring nuance to this discussion that people are now trying to use as a cudgel in this primary. The shorter version is: Inner-City USA was fucked up in the 90s. That led to some fucked up reactions from people in the community, law enforcement and government. Now we have to go about fixing it.
Sometimes it’s good to think about just how much the country has changed in a very short time though. For example, people take for granted the mood in the country in 2002 when the Bush administration rolled out their strategy to get Senate approval for the Iraq AUMF. I remember “Cut and Run Democrats” was the slogan in '04 and now Republicans would rather lose a limb than commit to “boots on the ground”.
That was actually pretty good. But… I still think another factor in the mix was the pandering to the racism of White suburban voters at the time. Hence the difference in sentencing for crack vs powder cocaine. It is hard not to connect this urge to pander to these very same racist tendencies in how Hillary ran her 2008 campaign against Obama. Fortunately for Hillary the media does not seem to care about that bit of history.
“I almost want to apologize for” my response, he added.
What an odd way to phrase it.
As a Sanders supporter, even I have to admit: As lousy as this exchange may be, the difference between Bill and Bernie in terms of dealing with these protesters is just amazing. Bill can engage people (say what you will about the content), in a way that very few politicians can. He can talk directly to an individual while engaging an entire crowd. As much as I am saddened by large portions of the man’s legacy, it’s impossible to watch him work his magic without falling in love all over again.
Well, not for Bill. He’s kind of famous for nearly sincere sounding responses like this. The man’s an artist, really.
He apparently is thinking about it today.
I find it so utterly fascinating that the only thing that really unhinges Bill Clinton are attacks against his wife.
Which is why I’m doubting that Bern going after HRC for her vote on the Iraq UOF resolution while campaigning in NY is gonna go over well. NYers were ready to kick some ME ass as I recall.
“I almost want to apologize for” my response, he added.
I’m sure the activists almost appreciate his almost-apology. Now if they would just almost-apologize for interrupting his almost-speech, this almost-story would be almost finished.
I think he did what he had to. If BLM is at all serious they’d best think out their plan. If they just want to showboat jumping on folks like Clinton and Sanders is the way to go. If they really want to make things better for Black people they might want to try civil dialogue about contemporary issues rather then heckle the folks on their side about ancient history.
If you give it thought…BLM is going right down the ABC’s of a plan that looks like it was drafted by those that want to see them fail. They’re fucking their thing up by the numbers and Clinton gave them a nudge towards reality in that confrontation.
There is no candidate on the Democratic side of this election that could be construed as racist or likely to harm Blacks. But just about every GOP’er will trash not only Blacks but everyone that’s not white, Christian or Republican. So what the fuck is BLM hassling Clinton for? How can you take such a misguided group seriously? I stopped giving a shit about them a long time ago. And to be sure Bill Clinton, with all his flaws, did more for Americans of all colors than BLM is ever going to.
Was there pandering to white suburbanites in the 90s with the crime bill? Sure. But it was also something that was asked for… no… demanded by the black community. That’s why you have guys like highly esteemed Jim Clyburn, former Black Panther Bobby Rush, and flaming leftist Cynthia McKinney voting for it. Of course, people like John Lewis- who Bernie supporters are now attacking for backing Hillary- who were more prescient and voted against it. But I remember in DC, we had 1 for every 1000 citizens being killed a year. The number is roughly 20% of that now. So when people try to put that shit at one person’s door, it’s the height of intellectual dishonesty and I usually just dismiss them as a hack of some type or doing petty score settling.
Me too.
That a man would defend his partner in marriage?
How utterly normal.
jw1