Disappointments Galore

This post is going to be more in line with the "online diary" aspect of blogging. There's no particular point to it, and not really any facts at all to back it up, only my feelings.

I'm feeling disappointed in former president Bill Clinton.

I have traditionally been in his camp. I think he's one of the best political speakers of my lifetime (all the more so in contrast to the somewhat underwhelming oratory skills of his successor in the position) and have generally felt that the country was generally in a very good place under his stewardship, with the Republicans controlling the Congress.

I have always been more willing than some to overlook his personal failings, because I know that I, too, have personal failings. I do not expect our leaders to be perfect, I simply expect them to do their best on behalf of my country and its citizens. I am far more inclined to fault a leader for failing in pursuit of their duties to their office than for failing in their private lives.

But in the last few weeks of the campaign between his wife and Senator Obama, I have begun to see a side of him that I find truly distasteful. For all of his words of strengthening his party and coming together for common good, he's been drawn down to a level of dirty fighting that I think retired Presidents should be above. It seems to me he's down in the trenches making technically true if highly misleading statements about Senator Obama and embodying some of the uglier side of dirty politics. At a time in his career when he should be playing the grand elder statesman, he's gone back into campaign mode, and it's ugly.

I don't know why I took the time to write this out. Why I should expect politicians not to be politicians I have no idea. Still, for the first time I think I'm seeing just a little bit of what the Republicans see in Governor Clinton(*), and it saddens me.

Liam.

(* Although no one does it, I threw this in because technically it is the correct way to refer to Mr. Clinton. When someone retires from a position held by more than one person at a time (such as Senator or Governor), they keep that title in retirement. But when someone holds a singular position (such as President, Vice President, Chief Justice, Speaker of the House or one of the cabinet), in retirement they are supposed to revert back to their highest previous non-singular position. Therefore, the correct title for Bill Clinton isn't "President Bill Clinton" or "Ex-President Bill Clinton", but "Governor Bill Clinton". Just a fun fact that isn't taught much in civics classes any more.)