rssClinton’s Inner Fight Goes Public
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 12:30 pm
- 12 Comments
President Bill Clinton (WDCpix)
All eyes were focused last week—or most of them anyway—on the bailout negotiations, more specifically on the shenanigans of Sen. John McCain as he sought to swoop in and be the white knight of the whole mess. Will he, won’t he, will he, won’t he go to the debates?
He got all the attention he wanted, but it certainly felt political to the max, no matter who spun it otherwise.
But there was another large presence making the rounds last week, seeking public attention — former President Bill Clinton. Yes, his Global Initiative Conference was in full swing in New York, providing the media with a reason to give him a whole lot of air time. And fill it up he did, with his smarts and reach, his talks of AIDS and education, and the need for all of us to care for the unlucky.
Illustration by: Matt Mahurin
But deeply embedded in Clinton’s eloquent dissection of global problems was his still palpable bitterness over his wife’s loss to Sen. Barack Obama, whose name Clinton seemed to have a hard time uttering as he worked those mikes.
He was finally more gracious when introducing Obama at his own conference. But up until that point, as he talked to Larry King and the women at “The View” — now friskily empowered to be election-year players — he had a difficult time camouflaging the wounds from his wife’s loss. He mentioned Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by name, over and over, her gifts, what she has spent her life working for, all while straining to give a full-hearted endorsement of the Democratic nominee.
The former president doesn’t seem to have any simpatico with the cool post-boomer now climbing in the polls. In fact, he has expressed far more natural sympathy with McCain. Clinton made a point of saying, over and over, how much he likes the GOP nominee — displaying not just sympathy but an almost respectful envy, from a Vietnam-era guy who didn’t serve to to a genuine war hero.
But Clinton went farther as he made his rounds, expressing his approbation for both Palins. He spoke warmly of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd. “I like the idea that this guy does those long-distance races,” Clinton said, “Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy.”
These are real folks, just like me — and unlike that other guy whose name I am having some trouble with. That’s the theme.
Forget that their policies and politics are 180-degrees away from everything both Clintons have been about. Clinton is, without a doubt, as complex and flawed and gifted a man as ever to be at the helm. But the page is turning and he knows it. There is a sense of the limelight moving on.
Look, what Clinton is doing now is good, no question, and he has the stature and moxie — and need — to make it work, to galvanize other rich folk to try to help solve the world’s problems. Clearly he means to make a profound difference in his later years — and if part of that is a need for redemption after his public fall from grace, fine.
But there was evident these past days, as there often is, a visible fight within Clinton — between his bigger self and his smaller self, between his professed altruism and his narcissism.
I think he’ll win, he said of Obama, through clenched teeth, or a clenched heart, or both. But there was not much energy or enthusiasm in that prediction. He sounded impassioned and folksy and as smart as anyone who has ever occupied the White House. In his performance now, there is always the winking sense of: hey, America, look what you’re missing. You blew it; you could have had us back.
I thought about all this, about Clinton — and for that matter, about McCain — and how both men behaved last week, when I was reading the obituaries for Paul Newman, who died of cancer at 83.
Paul Newman (Flickr: Heather Lucille)
He was the other man to get some air time as the week ended. A class act, everyone agrees, a marvelous film actor, whose ego never showed — on screen or off. No entourages, no messy affairs.
He was a man, by all accounts, with a tenacious love for his spouse; a man unassuming about his gifts, though driven to be a really good actor; a man who kept acting, and didn’t get all hammy in his later roles like some other big stars like, say, Al Pacino.
Newman was also a man who did the philanthropy thing — with his salad dressings and spaghetti sauces — pouring the $250 million he made into camps for sick kids. All done with an easy hand. All done without saying: look at me, look at me.
He left the planet a better place. He left us the marvelous films and the legacy of giving back — rare for anyone, rarer still for someone in a profession like show business — and he did it without leaving ego fingerprints all over the place.
It was a lovely and sad note, Newman’s passing, in a week full of posturing and political gamesmanship.
Anne Taylor Fleming is a novelist, commentator and essayist for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” She is the author of a memoir, “Motherhood Deferred: A Woman’s Journey.”
12 Comments
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 11:13 am
The impact of Paul Newman is far reaching. I remember his public service announcements encouraging the use of seat belts in the 1970's. At the time it was not really a common practice. I remember these spots as the impetus for me to start buckling up. He just had credibility. He continued to evolve as a man finding reward in places only the wise among us search. As with George Harrison, I believe it's what occured after he became an icon that demonstrated his true greatness.
Comment posted September 30, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
I am so disppointed with Mr. Clinton not coming out with a wholehearted support for Mr. Obama. Instead he was all praise for MCCain as a great man and a war hero. I really have a hard time dealing with this. I admired both Clintons for her democaratic zeal and for what they have done to the country. Why is he undermining Obama by his praise of McCain and his running mate. How much does he really know of Palin. Did he meet her before? Does he really want Obama to win this election? If yes, please stop lifting the repulican nominees to high pedestel and support your democratic nominee instead before it is too late. Some wounds are hard to heel.
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 7:13 am
You're right in referring to Obama as a post-Boomer, but it is quite relevant to understand which post-Boomer generation Obama is actually a part of—Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Xers. I'd recomend this 5 minute video I saw this morning, of a bunch of big brand name TV pundits (David Brooks, Clarence Page, etc.) talking about GenJones' key role in the '08 Election, this video is at the top of thos page: http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 9:29 am
I'm growing tired of the drama- not Clinton's- yours and people like you.
1. Bill Clinton hasn't said anything nice about McCain that Joe Biden and Barack Obama have not said themselves. They speak of his war experience with respect, as did EVERY SINGLE other person who spoke about McCain at the convention. Adding global warming is not much of a stretch.
2. Bill Clinton has articulated in a very specific way why he thinks Obama can, will, and should win. He did not say it through clenched teeth- that all all conjecture on the part of desperate members of the press looking for a story. I know because I bothered to actually watch the interviews, as I learned that reading about them will only provide the viewpoint of press members who are Obama supporters looking for something to complain about.
3. Bill Clinton does not know Obama well. His support for Obama is about issues, his party, and what it stands for, as opposed to his personal relationship with Obama. Those are not weak or tepid reasons to support someone's campaign. If you are looking for the same passion he had for his wife's campaign, you will never see that. She's his wife. Get over it.
4. No one should ever be expected to be as passionate about someone else's campaign the way they are about the campaign of their spouse. Did I mention that?
5. Bill Clinton has never really been one to enjoy negative campaigning. Historically, he hates it. That he would say negative things about his wife's opponent at all is a testament to his love and respect for her more than anything else. I find it very ironic that the same people who complained about ihis negative campaigning before are demanding that he do it now. Especially since these same people supposedly voted for someone who represents “a new kind of politics.”
6. If Bill Clinton were to be more emotional about Obama's campaign the way so many of his supporters are, it would not only cost him his credibility with the very voters he needs to help Obama persuade but it would lead to a completely different but equally distracting narrative from the one taking place right now- in short, desperate story-seeking press members would then just accuse Bill Clinton of having wanted his wife to lose, like they did during the primary.
Here is a news flash for you. Bill Clinton would rather that lefty liberal reporters think he is disloyal to his party somehow than have anyone think he is disloyal to his wife.
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
You're right in referring to Obama as a post-Boomer, but it is quite relevant to understand which post-Boomer generation Obama is actually a part of—Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Xers. I'd recomend this 5 minute video I saw this morning, of a bunch of big brand name TV pundits (David Brooks, Clarence Page, etc.) talking about GenJones' key role in the '08 Election, this video is at the top of thos page: http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html
Comment posted October 1, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
I'm growing tired of the drama- not Clinton's- yours and people like you.
1. Bill Clinton hasn't said anything nice about McCain that Joe Biden and Barack Obama have not said themselves. They speak of his war experience with respect, as did EVERY SINGLE other person who spoke about McCain at the convention. Adding global warming is not much of a stretch.
2. Bill Clinton has articulated in a very specific way why he thinks Obama can, will, and should win. He did not say it through clenched teeth- that all all conjecture on the part of desperate members of the press looking for a story. I know because I bothered to actually watch the interviews, as I learned that reading about them will only provide the viewpoint of press members who are Obama supporters looking for something to complain about.
3. Bill Clinton does not know Obama well. His support for Obama is about issues, his party, and what it stands for, as opposed to his personal relationship with Obama. Those are not weak or tepid reasons to support someone's campaign. If you are looking for the same passion he had for his wife's campaign, you will never see that. She's his wife. Get over it.
4. No one should ever be expected to be as passionate about someone else's campaign the way they are about the campaign of their spouse. Did I mention that?
5. Bill Clinton has never really been one to enjoy negative campaigning. Historically, he hates it. That he would say negative things about his wife's opponent at all is a testament to his love and respect for her more than anything else. I find it very ironic that the same people who complained about ihis negative campaigning before are demanding that he do it now. Especially since these same people supposedly voted for someone who represents “a new kind of politics.”
6. If Bill Clinton were to be more emotional about Obama's campaign the way so many of his supporters are, it would not only cost him his credibility with the very voters he needs to help Obama persuade but it would lead to a completely different but equally distracting narrative from the one taking place right now- in short, desperate story-seeking press members would then just accuse Bill Clinton of having wanted his wife to lose, like they did during the primary.
Here is a news flash for you. Bill Clinton would rather that lefty liberal reporters think he is disloyal to his party somehow than have anyone think he is disloyal to his wife.
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Comment posted September 30, 2010 @ 7:54 am
I'm growing tired of the drama- not Clinton's- yours and people like you.
1. Bill Clinton hasn't said anything nice about McCain that Joe Biden and Barack Obama have not said themselves. They speak of his war experience with respect, as did EVERY SINGLE other person who spoke about McCain at the convention. Adding global warming is not much of a stretch.
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