rssBill Clinton’s Disappointing Exodus
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 9:56 pm
- 2 Comments
DENVER–The world was his stage again. Sixteen years after William Jefferson Clinton accepted the nomination of his party, he stood here tonight before an audience he fully expected would be nominating his wife as the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States. Instead, he was here, admittedly, warming up the crowd for the party’s vice presidential nominee Joe Biden.
He had one hell of an act to follow. The previous night, with full-throated authority, his wife delivered perhaps the most memorable speech by a runner-up for a party’s presidential nomination since Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1980. In many ways, her speech embodied the conviction and passion she had earned among the millions who voted for her during the primary campaign. Speaking to a following of her own–not her husband’s–Hillary Clinton did everything that could have been asked of her and more. One could feel the Pepsi Center shake with the idea of a party whose sole conflict had nothing to do with the platform but about a personal preference between two people come together.
Not so tonight. As I noted in an earlier post, one could not forget all the statements Bill Clinton had made against Obama during the primaries. There was too much bitterness, too many slights. While his wife had long ago publicly made peace with her loss, the former president seemed to take a shot across the bow when he gave a tepid response when asked whether Obama was ready to be president by a television reporter,
Indeed, as Clinton looked out to the audience, one couldn’t help but feel he was asking himself, what had happened? How had a party that showed him such great love during his presidency and the years after come to not follow what he had asked of them? What had he done?
Stepping off the stage, Clinton did so no longer as the party’s great champion. He had ceded that role through his own pettiness and outward hostility. Now it was time to go.
2 Comments
Comment posted August 28, 2008 @ 6:20 am
Mr. Pappu,
What, in Heaven's name, speech did you watch? Because it sure wasn't the one most of the rest of us saw. The only “thud” (as you termed it in your previous post on this subject) connected with President Clinton's speech is your confused, perhaps delusional, reaction to his reasoned, detailed and eloquent indictment of the wrongs perpetrated upon the American people by an incompetent and unconcerned Bush administration that the Republican presumptive nominee has vowed to replicate. And as far as the “audience that was no longer his,” or would “not follow what he had asked of them,” I seem to recall his being greeted with exhuberant cheering that gave way to rapt attention that culminated in joyous appreciation for his keen analysis and razor sharp insight. Whatever previous “slights” the former president may have levied against Sen. Obama in the past several weeks were readily forgiven as he enthusiastically and without reservation “passed the baton” to the new generation of leadership. Forgiven, because the president did it with class and purpose and respect and graciousness and, in the process, was as inspiring and uplifting as he has ever been. Moreover, his audience in the Pepsi Center and, I venture to believe, beyond knew it, loved it, and are profoundly grateful to him for his past and continuing service to his country. Now, as Barack takes up the mantle, we all can look forward to finally recovering the place called “Hope” that was trampled upon and almost, though, thankfully, not totally, obliterated during the past eight years. And you, my friend, as well as those very few who are still pouting like three-year-olds, need to get over it.
Comment posted August 28, 2008 @ 11:20 am
Mr. Pappu,
What, in Heaven's name, speech did you watch? Because it sure wasn't the one most of the rest of us saw. The only “thud” (as you termed it in your previous post on this subject) connected with President Clinton's speech is your confused, perhaps delusional, reaction to his reasoned, detailed and eloquent indictment of the wrongs perpetrated upon the American people by an incompetent and unconcerned Bush administration that the Republican presumptive nominee has vowed to replicate. And as far as the “audience that was no longer his,” or would “not follow what he had asked of them,” I seem to recall his being greeted with exhuberant cheering that gave way to rapt attention that culminated in joyous appreciation for his keen analysis and razor sharp insight. Whatever previous “slights” the former president may have levied against Sen. Obama in the past several weeks were readily forgiven as he enthusiastically and without reservation “passed the baton” to the new generation of leadership. Forgiven, because the president did it with class and purpose and respect and graciousness and, in the process, was as inspiring and uplifting as he has ever been. Moreover, his audience in the Pepsi Center and, I venture to believe, beyond knew it, loved it, and are profoundly grateful to him for his past and continuing service to his country. Now, as Barack takes up the mantle, we all can look forward to finally recovering the place called “Hope” that was trampled upon and almost, though, thankfully, not totally, obliterated during the past eight years. And you, my friend, as well as those very few who are still pouting like three-year-olds, need to get over it.
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