President Obama once honorarily called President Clinton the “Secretary of Explaining Stuff” and his recent appearance on James Corden to discuss the epidemic of gun violence in America is a master class in political communication. He simultaneously tells progressives to start voting like they cared about guns as much as the other side, tells swing voters how to solve this problem by recounting how his administration successfully reduced significant amounts of gun violence, while also reaching out to gun owners and hunters by driving a wedge between them and the NRA. It’s empathy, analysis, and rallying the faithful all at the same time.
Please share widely!
Thanks for this clip, it was marvelous.
If ANY of our current elected Democrats had the political wisdom and pure chops of Bill Clinton, our nation would be in MUCH better shape today.
As much as I love and admire Barack Obama, Bill Clinton remains the very best politician I’ve known in my 70 years on this planet.
I am beginning to appreciate him more and more. There is a need for more objective scholarship about his administration. I think the right obviously exaggerated the foibles and the modern left lacks the context of the time in which he operated when there were still conservative Southern Democrats and Reagan Democrats to win back and win over. The dynamic between Clinton and Blair and their successors breaking with them is also very interesting since I think the third way was the best electoral approach to gain lasting policy progress.
Interesting comment, which begs the question, “What qualities make one the very best politician”? As you know, I was no fan of Clinton (either one) and was greatly disappointed by President Obama, especially in his post presidency – but I guess I am thinking in terms of elected officials, not politicians . I’d place LBJ, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, and Barack Obama on equal footing as best politicians.
There was no Vietnam or Gulf of Tonkin fiasco in Bill Clinton’s presidency. There were no war crimes ordered from the Oval Office. There was no sedition and no insurrection.
I agree that Barack Obama was a disappointment. His greatest strength was also his greatest weakness – he was unwilling to act on his instinct because of his fear of being pigeonholed as just another angry black man.
I’m not willing to put any Democrat in the same bucket as Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Richard Cheney, or any other similar Republican.
Bill Clinton increased restrictions on the poor and working class as he eased restrictions on the rentier class; a typical neoliberal.
Upon leaving office, instead of being a humble public servant and helping the poorest of the working class, as was done by President Carter, President Obama cashed in on multimillion dollar book deals, VIP cruises with billionaires, and a posh multimillion dollar vacation home on The Vineyard.
What makes them less skilled as a politician? Your remark was that Clinton was the very best politician .
Their demonstrated contempt for truth, facts, rational debate, and the rule of law disqualifies them.
It disqualifies them for the same reason that professional athletes who similarly cheat are banned from their sport and from the Hall of Fame for that sport.
This comment reminds me of the hockey fan who hates the enforcer on opposing teams until the day a trade is made and that enforcer is now on the fan’s team…and suddenly the guy is accepted because “that’s hockey”.
Bill Clinton tarnished the office, abused women, lied to the American people. But yes, he was a remains a highly skilled politician, just as Lindsey and the Senator Collins are of dubious character, but highly skilled politicians who are able to remain in power, despite their lack of morals.
You are repeating scurrilous Limbaugh lies. Please stop.
Please stop calling me a liar, or admirer Rush Limbaugh. Thanks in advance.
We’ve again landed in Clinton Derangement Syndrome territory — time to move on.
Considering that some, including me, view William Clinton as a key figure to the loss suffered by Hillary Clinton and the election of Trump, one can only wonder the motives of anyone supporting him, despite the realities.
If she had listened to him and his advisors instead of Robby Mook she might be enjoying a second term right now. It’s Bill who told her to go to Notre Dame, to campaign in the Midwest, and to Sista Soulja the activist wing of the party. By sidelining Bill, she moved sharply to the left on identity politics which managed to alienate swing voters without moving to the left on economics to win back Bernie voters who either stayed home, voted for Stein, or even for Trump.
Bill Clinton knew how to sell economically populist centrism in a culturally moderate package, and to a lesser extent so did Obama. The party has to get back to the center on crime, defense, trade, and culture while pushing populist economic policies that uplift the middle class. This was the genius of Bill Clinton and this was a party that competed in the South and Midwest rather than surrendering them to the far right as Biden seems to be doing.
Matt Yglesias has probably the best post-Mortem on the 2016 campaign I’ve read.
https://www.slowboring.com/p/how-hillary-clinton-unleashed-the
I rather like this perspective from George Monbiot: The man who sank Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency was not Donald Trump. It was her husband.
Bill Clinton took what he could get from Republicans AFTER I believe twice vetoing measures that would have been even worse. Your Obama criticisms are irrelevant class envy.
Again, praising Democrats for being less horrid that Republicans is not, in my humble opinion, the way to sway the independent voter.
You seem to forget that we are talking about events of almost 30 years ago.
The result of Bill Clinton’s strategy was an administration that steamrolled the GOP for eight years. The strategy swayed enough voters — Democrats, independents, and even Republicans who rejected the lies of that era’s GOP charlatans — that Bill Clinton enjoyed more than enough support to advance the Democratic agenda.
Which appears to be why you still whine about that period three decades later.
I remind you that the thread-starter is a masterclass in political strategy for TODAY. I suggest that following that strategy will attract 2022 and 2024 votes far more effectively than any GOP talking points that you repeat so often here.
Bill Clinton’s trade policies cost millions of manufacturing jobs, many of which were union.
These jobs provided middle class lives for non-college educated citizens.
And you want them to vote for Democrats, praise Bill Clinton, and “stop whining”?
Yes, and how do you propose Democrats win back the non-college educated voters?
We’ve again landed in Clinton Derangement Syndrome territory — time to move on.
JTM has a reply to this awaiting moderation if that is something you can address. In this case I suspect the system flagged his use of VP Cheney’s commonly used first name.
I’ve been unable to access the site at all for most of last week. Things seem to have been repaired now.
I had trouble for a couple of days. I contacted Charley and he said he was working on getting this to a new version of WordPress.