After he left office, Carter built houses for poor people, wrote books and only occasionally transits back into the turbulent orbit of la vida politica.
Ike, like a good soldier, faded away.
Truman shed the White House like a man trading in his prison stripes for a good suit and a cold beer, returned to Missouri and got behind a plow.
Johnson grew his hair hippy-long and was rumored to spark up the occasional reefer cigarette.
Roosevelt went out toes-up, having had the good sense to die in office after locking up the title of longest serving President in history, while Kennedy was shot out of the saddle and into tragic legend.
Reagan doddered around the ranch ordering cacti to invade Granada before they finally brought him indoors for good.
Bush and Ford played a lot of golf.
And Nixon lurked in the ex-President parking lot, luring children into his van with sour balls and then forcing them to listen to him explain why he was set up.
But the modern Democrats' Great One won't stay off the fucking stage.
Because Clinton wasn't just some guy.
He was Destiny's Bright Young Man.
The Phenom.
The Natural.
The youngest governor in the country (beating out Governor Fetus O'Preemee of Idaho by a full three years) and (as he used to joke) the youngest ex-governor in history.
The Rhodes Scholar who sat on the roof at Oxford, not inhaling, creating his castles in the sky by appointing imaginary HUD Secretaries to build them.
The Comeback Kid.
But the years and the easy pace of high-dollar speeches and non-controversial causes (where of course Mr. Former President Sir can haz any fucking Cheezburger he wants) slowed his miraculous political metabolism until it could no longer outrace his vast, gobbly appetites.
His dogma finally overtook his karma, turning the New Democratic Party's hot-rodding, hound-dogging, enfant terrible
into the cranky old guy across the street who wants you to turn your damn music down.
He has gone from this guy
to this guy (From the UK Telegraph):
Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support
By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in New York
Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.
Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former president's future campaign role is a "sticking point" in peace talks with Mrs Clinton's aides.
The Telegraph has learned that the former president's rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Mr Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence.
A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support.
A second source said that the former president has kept his distance because he still does not believe Mr Obama can win the election.
Mr Clinton last week issued a tepid statement, through a spokesman, in which he said he "is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States ".
...
It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.
But his lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: "He's been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn't. I've spoken to a couple of people who he's been in contact with and he is mad as hell.
"He's saying he's not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support.
"You can't talk like that about Obama - he's the nominee of your party, not some house boy you can order around..."
Another Democrat said that despite polls showing Mr Obama with a healthy lead over Republican John McCain, Mr Clinton doesn't think he can win.
...
"Bill Clinton knows the party will unite behind Obama, but he is telling people he doesn't believe Obama can win round voting groups, especially working-class whites, in the swing states," the strategist said.
"He just doesn't think Obama will be able to connect with the voters he needs."
Joe Klein, the author of Primary Colours, a fictionalised account of Mr Clinton's 1992 election, who has known the former president for 20 years, said he also heard that he was "very, very bitter", from people who have spoken with him.
"It's time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What's going on now is kind of strange. I think his behaviour is really, really shocking."
And I find that terribly sad.
18 comments:
moi aussi drifty, moi aussi.
Compare and contrast: Al Gore was dealt a worse hand than Hillary Clinton could dream of... he won the popular vote, and his win of Florida was snatched away by a partisan Supreme Court who rendered a decision that will leave law scholars agape for however many centuries are left to come.
In his stead, the keys to the the White House were given to the most irresponsible adult since Curly Howard.
Since that time, Gore has done the most of any person alive to raise awareness of what's probably the greatest issue of our times, global warming. His work, which is clearly tremendously meaningful and satisfying to him, led to Gore receiving an Oscar, an Emmy and a Grammy. Oh, and that the Nobel Prize thing, too.
In addition, he founded CurrentTV and sits on the board of directors of that fruit company, Apple, the company that distributes to the world the advanced alien technology just a couple a years before all the competitors manage to even decode it.
When life dealt lemons, Al Gore made a lemon meringue pie.
Bill Clinton knows well how to press forward diligently in the face of adversity, he knows how to beat the odds. But he apparently doesn't know how to change direction when he finds a locked door with any grace or dignity.
He can see in the example of Al Gore (or Howard Dean, for that matter) examples of what a Comeback Kid really looks like.
You are missing the substance of the story. Bill is sitting around grousing to friends, and at least one not-friend, and he says, "Barack Obama can kiss my ass for my endorsement".
Not classy, but private, but some reporter decided to stretch a lame one source quote into a story.
You know, I was shaking my head with rue and disappointment until I realized that the source of the quote was "a senior Democrat."
I mean, folks, that could be Lieberman. That could be almost anybody.
(All right, "a senior Democrat who worked for Mr. Clinton," but grief, it's still practically anonymous. Roger Stone in clever disguise might qualify.)
Oh, and the UK Telegraph used one seriously ugly picture.
I agree with matt and d above. You shouldn't even dignify this kind of bullshit story by paying attention to it.
frank,
I'd be inclined to agree with you and d - except that there's so much we've all been able to see of Bill C's behavior of late that indicates that he's out of sorts. He's not the guy who was capable of grace and charm under pressure... he's been petulant and surly, even in public.
He may have his reasons for it, but it's a pity nontheless.
the Telegraph is a Tory rag.... enough said ....
INHALE DAMMIT!!
I believe he is that pissed. Nothing went the way they'd planned for his third term. Nothing. Save for the media hype and penn's polling "data" they really were told everything they wanted to hear. Dang, what's next? Bouts of serial plastic surgery and the purchase of Neverland ranch?
Man your fab!
"probably the greatest issue of our times, global warming."
So it's okay to say nigger now?
I don't take anything Joe Klein says seriously, also anonymous sources who are fauxfriends are not to be trusted. I believe that there is some truth to what the article claims even though some of the people are not trustworthy. Also with all the millions that the Clintons owed in legal fees he could not have just left commercial life.
I thought we all agreed "unnamed sources" were Joe Lieberman in his twin roles as Mata and Hari.
Dig it, this story was reading just a little dubious to me -- and then I saw Klein's name.
This isn't real reporting; it's gossip.
say what you will , he is STILL the only DEM to win 2 terms since FDR ,,,, I know y'all hate to hear that , but credit where its due .... he beat the Rethugs like a drum.... no wonder they still hate him.... the press too, he made the big mistake of being smarter than Joe Klein etc.... still lovin the big dawg here.....
Man, O man, did I quite blogging and delete Pottersville at a bad time. I coulda had an even bigger field day with this than you did, Drifty.
What a racist fuck. I'm beginning to hate him almost as much as Bush.
Fuck off....sweetie.
Obama's memo to Bill:
"I will lovingly smooch your nether eye, if you promise NOT to appear on the stage with me at ANY campaign event between now and November."
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