A Nugget of Hope?

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First off, lay off the Al Gore bashing, if you would be so kind. Sure, the guy would most likely be the best President of the whole Current crop. But he’s paid his dues. He’s already run the gauntlet many times in his life. Don’t forget he lost to a Clinton once before in a primary. He knows what he’s up against. If he chooses not to run, he’s earned some peace. Let’s not ruin it for the guy.

That said, there’s a very good chance we’ll end up with another President Clinton Elect pretty much exactly one year from — right now. Oh yes, it’s certainly possible she’ll be beat, either in the primary or the general. But today, she’s the odds-on favorite. And (unfortunately) sometimes the favorite actually wins.

Just ask the Boston Red Sox.

So if she wins, we’re all doomed, right?

Well, maybe not so fast.

First off, as we all know, the President is only one person. If she wins, Hillary Clinton will still need to work with Congress. So a strong Democratic Congress, with more Progressives in the mix to strengthen the spine, and things might not be as bad as we fear. Emphasis on the word ‘might’.

And then there’s Bill.

One of the biggest issues we face is our weak international approval rating. This is huge, since the terrible image we have today would come back to haunt is over the decades if it is not reversed. A perfect example is the economy. With so much of our own economic destiny in foreign hands these days thanks to BushCo policies, we’ll need all the friends we can get going forward.

And who’s the Biggest US Rockstar in the world? Sorry folks, it’s not Al Gore. It’s Bill Clinton.

Here at home, people look at Reagan with fond nostalgia. To far too many folks, he was the quintessential American President of the past 30 years. But not in the rest of the world. Mention the words ‘Great American President’ outside of our borders, and the first name heard from most folks would be — ‘Bill Clinton’.

Just have a look at this article in the Telegraph from the UK.

It was written yesterday (don’t let the reverse dating fool you) by a Conservative British MP by the name of Boris Johnson. The title – ‘I want Hillary Clinton to be president.’

He writes:

How could I possibly emit the merest peep of support for a woman who seems to have acted out the role of First Lady, from 1993 to 2000, like a mixture between Cherie Blair and Lady Macbeth, stamping her heel, bawling out subordinates and frisbeeing ashtrays at her erring husband?

After praising Rudy Giuliani, he continues:

But with the deepest respect to Rudy, he has one disadvantage over Hillary. Unless I am much mistaken, the Clinton marriage is still standing, a shell-scarred monument to the triumph of hope over experience; and the nub of the matter is that I am prepared to pay the price of supporting Hillary just to get Bill Clinton once again padding over the shag pile carpet of the Oval Office, even if it is only to bring his wife a cup of tea.

It seems so long ago, but do you remember how the world felt in the 1990s? There was a time when it was possible to support America exuberantly and unashamedly, and part of the reason was that the Presidency was held by a man of high intelligence and terrific political skill.

He goes on to favorably compare Clinton to Blair. And then he concludes:

But whatever the strength of that case, I can’t imagine that Bill Clinton would have made such a supreme hash of America’s response to 9/11. He was and is a master of language, and would never have been so cloth-eared to call for a “crusade”, given the connotations of that word to a Muslim ear.

He would never have informed the world that “if you are not with us, you are against us” or landed on an aircraft carrier to announce “mission accomplished”.

For all who love America, it is time to think of supporting Hillary, not because we necessarily want her for herself but because we want Bill in the role of First Husband. And if Bill can deal with Hillary, he can surely deal with any global crisis.

You know, he does have a bit of a point here.

Bill Clinton is highly respected in the rest of the world. Much more so than any other President in living memory. Does this count for anything?

So, for all those who say a Hillary Clinton Presidency is the worst thing that could happen, you just never know.

Maybe, just maybe. A Nugget of Hope?

Or did I smoke something funny today at lunch?