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Placing Husband In Attack Mode Diminishes Hillary As Candidate

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 29, 2008

He's back wagging his finger again, reminding everyone of the last time he wagged his finger and expected us to believe him.

This time, former President Bill Clinton is playing - how to say this nicely - provocateur for the presidential campaign of his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Others are more blunt. They call the ex-president an attack dog - the bad cop to Hillary's good cop.

No such label describes a dignified role for a former president.

Look, no one blames Clinton for doing everything he can to get his wife elected, but his win-at-all-costs style reminds people of the fatigue they felt by the time he and his wife left the White House.

You'd think these two people - who considered themselves the target of a vast right-wing conspiracy - would avoid getting down in the mud, knowing how destructive it can be. But Hillary says this is the "fun" part of politics. And Bill says he likes watching the fight between his wife and her chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who hopes to change the tone of politics.

As Florida Democrats prepare to cast their ballots in today's presidential primary, it's worth considering the Clintons' performance in South Carolina, which held its primary on Saturday, especially since the Democrats refused to campaign here.

For starters, the former president suggested his wife might lose South Carolina because of race. "They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender," he said. "And that's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here."

The former president seemed unaware that women make up 61 percent of South Carolina's Democrats. And here's something else he should know: Women look beyond chromosomes when casting their votes and it's insulting to suggest they should do otherwise.

Next, Clinton blasted a CNN reporter who asked his reaction to being compared with the late Lee Atwater, the Republican king of hardball politics. "They just spin you up on this and you happily go along," he said. "Shame on you."

Clinton went on to say that he'd only been pointing out that "there was substantially no difference" between Hillary's and Obama's record on Iraq, which is hardly the case.

Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Obama spoke out against giving President Bush authorization for the war. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, voted for the authorization. Now, her husband says that because Obama later voted for funding to support the troops, there is no difference between the two.

This is the same former president who recently said he never supported the Iraq war, though his statements at the time suggested otherwise.

Bill Clinton is one of the most talented politicians of his generation, but he is misrepresenting his position on the war, demonizing his wife's opponents and tarnishing his image as an ex-president.

And if the former president cannot control himself during the campaign, imagine his role in a two-for-one White House.

The South Carolina campaign reminded many Americans of their weariness with the Clintons.

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