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No escaping the past Squirmy Moments for Mr. ClintonBy Rick Horowitz Okey-dokey, lads and lassies! Are you ready to play Whack-a-Bill? That would be Bill Clinton, of course, the 42nd president of these United States, and a man who can't seem to find his way out of the spotlight. (Whether he's giving that particular effort his full attention is a question for another day.) Bill Clinton lives large. Speaks large. Gets paid large. Looms large. Especially looms large. Hillary runs for president, and half the conversation is "What'll she do with Bill if she wins?" Hillary finally throws her support to Barack Obama, and half the conversation is "Will Bill sign on, too?" Hillary gets vetted for secretary of state, and half the conversation is "What about all of Bill's foreign pals?" And that's just
the formal stuff. What's amazing is how much of the other stuff -- the
day-to-day business of putting together a new administration -- winds
up focusing on Bill Clinton, too. OK, that's an exaggeration. Only the way he came in, and the way he went out. And some of the biggest decisions his people made while he was there. That's all. The way Bill came in: By all accounts, Barack Obama's transition has been top-of-the-class for speed, efficiency, attention to detail, setting of priorities, commitment to talent, overall discipline, readiness to hit the ground running on January 20 -- Unlike, everybody keeps pointing out, Bill Clinton's transition. Bill Clinton's transition, everybody keeps pointing out, was slow, and sloppy, riven by conflicts, salted by hacks. They didn't hit the ground running so much as they tripped over the starting line and fell flat on their assets. Nobody's trying to make Bill look bad, you understand. Not deliberately, anyway. It's just that you can't talk about how smoothly the Obama transition is going without contrasting it with his most recent Democratic predecessor. (The Dubya transition was a one-of-a-kind, with its weeks of hanging chads and haggling lawyers.) Remember how grumpy Bill was during the recent campaign when Obama simply suggested that, historically speaking, the Clinton presidency hadn't exactly been a transformative one? How happy do you think he is to have every compliment for Obama's transition end with the phrase, "unlike Bill Clinton's"? "Thwap!" The way Bill went out: Obama's selection of Eric Holder to be his attorney general wasn't designed to remind people of the Marc Rich pardon, was it? Hardly likely. Obama likes Holder, and Obama wants Holder. But since the only obvious stain on Holder's record is his involvement in that little bit of mercy-for-a-price for a long-time fugitive, guess whose final hours as president -- and those sordid tales of shady deals -- are suddenly back in the news again? "Thwap!" Bill must be so pleased. While Bill was there: Finally, there's the small matter of the current economic crisis, and the persistent thought that some of the seeds of destruction might have been sown by Clinton's own lieutenants -- the Robert Rubins and Larry Summerses of the world -- who were a tad more hands-off about regulating the markets than they might have been. And who, along with their various protégés, now seem perfectly positioned to continue exerting major influence in Obamaland. So the question naturally arises: If Clinton and Rubin and the rest were responsible for dwindling deficits and almost a decade of growth, are they also at least partly on the hook for dastardly derivatives and the dreaded downturn? "Thwap!" One way or another, all roads seem to lead back to Bill Clinton. That can't be fun. On the other hand, the missus will be out of town a lot. Posted 12/11/08.
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Rick Horowitz
