Nathan Scandella (personal)

Putting in Overtime

Today it was announced that Bill Clinton has successfully negotiated the release of two journalists from North Korea, after meeting personally with leader Kim Jong Il.

Clinton certainly left office in 2001 amid a cloud of controversy over his conduct in affairs largely personal. He has also garnered recent criticism over his complicity in the 25 years of deregulation that contributed to the current Global Financial Crisis. I would contend, however, that his actions - post-presidency - should serve to bolster his legacy.

With respect to his personal transgressions, I consider that a matter between himself, his family, and the women he was involved with. While I'm not going to heap praise on him for embarrassing himself publicly, I don't pretend that such shortcomings have much to do with the ability to conduct the business of a nation (or at least, shouldn't). Has George W. Bush served us well, simply by avoiding extramarital affairs? I would consider torture, spying on Americans, and lying about entry into war to be far greater sins than those committed by Bill Clinton. Why is this something that conservatives still can't agree with?

I would certainly say that in hindsight, Clinton's endorsement of the GLB repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 has worked poorly, as the financial sector exploded into an orgy of irresponsibility. However, liberals and conservatives alike were enamored with deregulation in the late 80s and 90s. A veto by Clinton of GLB in 1999 would easily have been overturned by a nearly unanimous Congress.

If you look at the body of humanitarian and environmental work Clinton (and his running mate Al Gore) have done since leaving office, and compare that to the accomplishments of George Bush (the senior), is there not a stark contrast to be seen? Why is patriotism supposedly the exclusive domain of conservatives, and why doesn't the Bush family put this into practice when they leave office? Of course, George the Junior has only been out of office for a few months, but does anyone really believe that he'll engage in much altruism in his waning years? I can see him liberating plenty of livestock of their lives on his ranch in Crawford, but I don't see a Nobel Prize in his future.

I'm not going to label Bill Clinton as a great President, because he failed to enact change in some very key areas during his Presidency. But, I will give him credit for the work he's done since leaving office.

Posted at 04:32PM Aug 04, 2009 by Nathan in Politics  |  Comments[0]