It's Over Between the Clintons and I
Jonathan Chait says a whole cadre of liberals have soured on the Clintons due to the disreputable tactics they’ve used in campaigning against Barack Obama. If liberals are feeling queasy, imagine what the multitude of independent voters who supported Bill Clinton are feeling.
I voted for Bill Clinton twice and, while I was a true-blue Democrat at the time, I have not regretted those votes even after I made a rightward leap and became an independent. I’ve continued to hold Clinton in high regard – out of admiration for the calm and prosperous times he presided over and out of defiance towards those who’ve used immoral means to smear the Clinton legacy.
In a matter of a few weeks, all the respect I held is gone. I can still admire what Clinton achieved as president (Bosnia, NAFTA, welfare reform, deficit reduction, liberalizing the military’s policy on gays), but his recent deplorable behavior has severed whatever affection I had for Clinton the man.
Sure, I was outraged at his conduct during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But I successfully deceived myself into believing that he was just a great man cursed with great flaws – human frailty far more universal than it was insidious. Boy was I a chump.
Clearly (far too clearly now), he is not possessed of common failings, he’s possessed of uncommon perfidy. He is the snake and too many of us have eaten the apple.
And Hillary? We can only assume she is the same – all amoral ambition and little regard for those who get in the way. If liberals are now waking up to that fact and feeling a little unclean, us independents are waking up screaming. Can we really give these people the keys to the nation again? No. If I have to hold my nose and vote for Romney (an idea that seemed outrageous just a few weeks ago), I’ll do so.
It’s over between the Clintons and I. And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one feeling that way.
I voted for Bill Clinton twice and, while I was a true-blue Democrat at the time, I have not regretted those votes even after I made a rightward leap and became an independent. I’ve continued to hold Clinton in high regard – out of admiration for the calm and prosperous times he presided over and out of defiance towards those who’ve used immoral means to smear the Clinton legacy.
In a matter of a few weeks, all the respect I held is gone. I can still admire what Clinton achieved as president (Bosnia, NAFTA, welfare reform, deficit reduction, liberalizing the military’s policy on gays), but his recent deplorable behavior has severed whatever affection I had for Clinton the man.
Sure, I was outraged at his conduct during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But I successfully deceived myself into believing that he was just a great man cursed with great flaws – human frailty far more universal than it was insidious. Boy was I a chump.
Clearly (far too clearly now), he is not possessed of common failings, he’s possessed of uncommon perfidy. He is the snake and too many of us have eaten the apple.
And Hillary? We can only assume she is the same – all amoral ambition and little regard for those who get in the way. If liberals are now waking up to that fact and feeling a little unclean, us independents are waking up screaming. Can we really give these people the keys to the nation again? No. If I have to hold my nose and vote for Romney (an idea that seemed outrageous just a few weeks ago), I’ll do so.
It’s over between the Clintons and I. And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one feeling that way.
Labels: Hillary Clinton
posted by Alan Stewart Carl at 1:02 PM
1 Comments:
I agree with you completely. I watched with disgust and despair as Hillary thrashed into Obama at the debate last week. She was my favorite, but her aggressive attacks are destructive and out of place. Of all the people to engage in such mud-slinging, I would have never have thought that the Clintons would stoop to such levels
Post a Comment
<< Home