Bill Clinton, the Comeback Cat

If cats have nine lives then Bill Clinton has at least a dozen.

To borrow a phrase from one of my all time favorite Governors, the late, great Ann Richards from my home state of Texas, there have been many times, over many years, where many of us assumed that you could, "Stick a fork in him," because he was done.

But somehow just like a cat, he's always managed to find his way back.

After surviving countless personal, political and legal battles over the years the "Comeback Kid" moniker he adopted after his surprise showing in the '92 New Hampshire primary now almost seems quaint.

It was not so long ago that historians predicted that the impeachment would permanently tarnish his legacy. But again the "Comeback Kid," came back. Through the Clinton Foundation he not only created an organization doing groundbreaking work on issues ranging from AIDS to obesity, he created a post-presidency identity for himself in the process as a global, goodwill ambassador.

Then once more he stepped in a pile of kitty litter.

It seemed impossible that anything, or anyone, could pose a bigger threat to Bill Clinton's legacy than Monica Lewinsky. Then a Senator by the name of Barack Obama came along.

No one was more surprised than me. As one fellow blogger gleefully reminded me, I devoted an entire chapter to my last book, Party Crashing, to arguing that Bill Clinton had left some impossibly large shoes for future Democratic nominees to fill, particularly when it came to... wait for it... connecting with black voters. I did speculate that then-candidate Obama would definitely move, or elevate the bar (in essence carving out a pair of shoes of his own). But I also interviewed and quoted one anonymous source, who knew both Clintons well, who told me that should the primary get tight, no tactic would be off the table -- including those steeped in racial innuendo.

We all know how things turned out.

Tensions had been mounting throughout the primary but Clinton's infamous South Carolina comment in which he dismissively compared Obama's victory there, to those of Jesse Jackson's previous losing bids seemed to mark a turning point for the man who had been affectionately dubbed "The First Black President."

The wounds were so raw that in a moment that would have seemed unthinkable just a year earlier, the former president found it necessary to proclaim himself "not a racist." (We all know that when you have to say that you might as well be answering the question "When did you stop beating your wife?")

I didn't have high hopes that the "Comeback Kid" was going to stage another grand return, particularly after reading the in-depth (and highly engaging) New York Times Magazine profile of him a couple of months ago. In it he seemed to revert to classic Clinton, circa the Bubba years, and not in a good way. Of his fall from grace with some black voters he said, "None of them ever really took seriously the race rap... They knew it was politics. I had one minister in Texas in the general election come up and put his arm around me... This was an Obama supporter. And he came up, threw his arm around me and said, 'You've got to forgive us for that race deal.' He said, 'That was out of line.'"

That statement reminded me that while there are a lot of qualities to love about Bill Clinton, self-awareness and the ability to acknowledge responsibility for his own actions are not always among them. But perhaps the line in the article that most dashed any hopes of another great comeback were the words of one of his former top aides who said of Clinton's post-election role, "Unless Obama messes up, President Clinton is irrelevant."

Then just like clockwork -- just as we were all beginning to think it was not possible -- "The Comeback Kid" did it again. Much like Jesse Jackson helped redefine himself in the eyes of some Americans by becoming a de facto international statesman, negotiating the release of various captive Americans abroad in the 1980s, President Clinton reminded us all just how relevant he still is, by helping to secure the release of captured journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea.

First and foremost I am grateful that these two women, who have been in so many of our thoughts and prayers, are finally coming home. But I am also somewhat in awe that yet again, President Clinton rose to the occasion to remind us of the great leader he has the capacity to be when he allows himself.

He is quite a cat.

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Comments

[lbicomber]

Oh, please. There's been no 'comeback" or redemption from the primary because none was needed. You chose to interpret his SC comments as being r@cist because you were upset that someone would try to minimize a primary win of your candidate., which is what EVERY candidate does regardless of their race or that of their opponent.

Get over it already.

[AhnAmuru]

Clinton's role is so overhyped. He didn't exactly stare down Kim Jong Il, or even negotiate a thing.

If all it take to make a "comeback" is board a plane and have a polite chat with some dictator ... we'd see a very long queue with the likes of Larry Craig, Sanford, Ensign, Rudy, ...

[ModernTimes1]

Ahh, the election is over. Didn't you get the memo?

[ModernTimes1]

Bill Clinton is the second greatest President of modernity (after FDR). No one else even comes close.

[SaiWengShiMa]

Let's take a koolaid break and take some baby steps together....

FACT #1: North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Il wanted to meet Pres. Bill Clinton very badly before he passes into the next world of evil dictators. Multiple news sources have reported that the ex-President's name was floated in phone calls by the hostages to relatives in the U.S. as being key to their release. Simply put, KIM WANTED TO MEET CLINTON AND POSE FOR A PHOTO OP TO GAIN STATUS ON THE WORLD STAGE. Stop deluding yourself, Pres. O'Bama, Hillary, Al Gore or anybody else did NOT pick Pres. Clinton for this mission, KIM Jong-Il PICKED HIM!

FACT #2: KIM IS A BIG FAN OF PRES. BILL CLINTON!

Q: So why is Kim such a big fan?

FACT #3: When CLINTON was President he okayed the following deal with North Korea: 1999 " ...A U.S.-led consortium signs a US$4.6 BILLION contract for two safer, Western-developed light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea."

FACT #4: This deal along with another with China (in which we gave away critical missile technology)helped to STIMULATE OUR ECONOMY FOR WHICH DEMOCRATS SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OR SHOULD THEY?

FACT #5: Since the Korean War ended in 1953, NO PRESIDENT HAS DONE MORE FOR NORTH KOREA THAN BILL CLINTON! HE HAS MADE KIM A VERY HAPPY MAN!......US$4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY! BUSH AND OTHER PRESIDENTS DIDN'T GIVE KIM SQUAT, ONLY CLINTON DID!

[VJ]

"When CLINTON was President he okayed the following deal with North Korea: 'A U.S.-led consortium signs a US$4.6 BILLION contract for two safer, Western-developed light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea'."

Which was BRILLIANT, because in exchange for those two light-water reactors which COULD NOT be used to make weapons-grade material, as a result of the 1994 'Agreed Framework', when President Clinton left office in 2001, the Yongbyon nuclear reactor had already been shut down for six years, the two larger nuclear reactors under construction had been abandoned, all of the prior spent fuel that COULD have been reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium had been safely sealed and placed under 24/7 video surveillance by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors, all of the graphite reactors were on schedule to be dismantled as soon as the construction of the two light-water reactors were completed, and NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS HAD YET BEEN CREATED.

It wasn't until the Bushies later VIOLATED the 1994 'Agreed Framework' (which the North Koreans had abided by) when they reneged on the delivery of the heavy fuel oil that had been contractually promised to compensate for the loss of energy production from the shutdown of the nuclear power plant, that North Korea kicked the IAEA inspectors of the country, unsealed and reprocessed the spent fuel into weapons-grade plutonium, and then CREATED AN ESTIMATED DOZEN NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Which North Korean policy succeeded ?

[Willie12345]

Why did they go there in the first place ?

[mergina]

Comeback? He's never left.

[hoosier96]

Oh come on. Any ex-President would have been prestigous enough for Kim Jong to feel he had gotten his props and given up the girls. Heck, a Hollywood celeb probably would have worked as well. The negotiations were finalized long before they sent Clinton to pick them up.

[bugsbonzai]

Really? Sending Bush over there would have worked? I don't think so.

[Z-FOX]

Bill road into town, And with a gasp ! we all stood back and said " Look slick willie in back in town". right wingers BEWARE! Z-FOX

[vippy]

Bill Clinton was successful with this mission because of who he is! Everyone knows him. However,
it was wrong for those two females to put themselves in that situation and they need to be scolded for what they had done. How much did it cost us tax payers is what I want to know.
And who buys the story of those 3 Americans who took a leisurely stroll into Iran?

[luvangelHussein330]

I'm not sining the praises of Bill Clinton until he does right by Haiti. He is now the US ambassador to Haiti so I expect for him to make good on the disater he helped create as president. Lets also not forget that his wife has been working on negotians long before he came along, and had it not been with the blessing of President Obam none of this would have happened. He didn't just decide to wake up ride in on a white hoarse to save the day. He was actualy the last step. Unfortunalty he is the only one benefitting from it. Hopefully that will give him the ego bust he desires to keep him happy and out of trouble for a while.

[VJ]

"I'm not sining the praises of Bill Clinton until he does right by Haiti. He is now the US ambassador to Haiti..."

No, President Clinton was appointed as the U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. BTW, note that is special envoy FOR Haiti, not special envoy TO Haiti, which according to a senior U.N. official is a part-time position in which Clinton will aim to attract private and government investment and aid for the poor Caribbean island nation.



"...so I expect for him to make good on the disater he helped create as president."

Actually, it was the Clinton administration that restored the democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power in 1994 after he had been ousted in a military coup in 1991 during the Poppy Bush administration.

[lastpost]

Some say, its who you know.
Other’s say, its what you know.
Maybe, its what you know about who you know.
But it worked.
That’s all I know.

[RButler]

In the news reports I've seen of TV, I never heard President Clinton say a word about this. Is that accurate? If so, that says a lot. He can get the job done without making a speech.

[padrushka]

I am not sure if people in the US understand how the rest of the world loves Clinton. We have lived overseas for a long time and people here have huge respect for him still and that includes Russia.

[OSA23]

with all of this said and done - how does any of this really serves the interesting of this culture that continues to struggle with the continuing economic collapsing? people are acting as if bill clinton turned sand into gold coins for everyone: he bargained with N. Korea and made some deals with N. Korea and viola, the freed two american journalist from one prison to return into another prison -

american culture as our national leaders continue to bicker and fight as the 'middle-class' falls into extinction alongside small business and the final slaying of the mom and pop business model.

can we remain on track, or do we need still more distractions from the basic bottomline: this culture has become bankrupted by barons and robbers who hold 'public office'....

[Zeroes]

Bill did a great job...but don't confuse him with the present administration on anything else...he's still an American that believes in the constitution.