Legacy

Rich Lowry's new book Legacy (You know the one: it has a picture of Bill Clinton on the front and the "A" in legacy is bright red. Scarlet, in fact.), and is excerpting tiny bite-sized portions of it on NRO.

Today's glimpse of the book takes on "Hillary Hooey: 35 whoppers from the senator from New York". Since I so strongly approve of shameless self-promotion (especially when it includes anything that might annoy the Clintons), I thought I should plug both the book (brilliant and insightful) and today's article (a sad shadow of the book, but hopefully enough to get you interested).

30) "It would have been difficult for the United States to send troops [to Rwanda] so soon after the loss of American soldiers in Somalia and when the Administration was trying to end ethnic cleansing in Bosnia." (Page 455)

Yes, it would have been "difficult" — which is why Clinton didn't do it, despite all his preening about Africa. It's untrue, however, that at this time that he was trying to end the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. He was taking a pass on that as well — because it too was "difficult."

This is just a little nugget, and you should check out the Hillary Hooey yourself. Then buy the book.

As a side note, as President, Clinton was rarely far to the left. Every time his administration tried to swerve left (as with health care reform), they were strongly rebuffed. His largest achievements were borrowed from the right (welfare reform, free trade) and proved wildly popular.

What lessons did Democrats learn from that and subsequent losses in local and national elections? Run further left with Dean and run further left with Bustamante.

Clinton's biggest weaknesses were on a personal level (character does matter) and in leadership. His unwillingness to do the "difficult" and unpopular things (like, even after his own build-up for war in Iraq, a quick turn-around and a half-hearted solution) helped lead to a climate in which Islamic fundamentalists felt no fear of reprisal for their actions. Bill Clinton, in that sense, gave us 9/11; bold terrorists thought that the US would simply abandon Israel and the Middle East because of an unwillingness to absorb losses or face an enemy on the battlefield.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is blood on Clinton's hands--there was no malice in his inaction, only cowardice.

Posted by zombyboy at October 23, 2003 10:18 AM | TrackBack