Seen, and not heard
Over the history of this republic, there has been a constant, unspoken gentleman's agreement with former presidents. Ex presidents do not comment on the policy or character of a sitting president. It's just bad form, and it is not done. Or, rather, it was not done until 2001.
Clinton is guilty of this, but I really don't think he can help himself. It doesn't make it right, but the man is the quintessential politician, which I mean both as an insult and a compliment. He's young enough to still be passionate, and this country's cult-like obsession with him feeds into a necessarily large ego. Hell, if you don't have an ego the size of your home state, you're not going run for the job in the first place.
All that being said, Clinton is what he is, and seems less offensive to me. The one who really gets my Irish up is Carter. By all accounts, a wonderful human being, and nice guy. I admire the yeoman's work put into Habitat for Humanity. We should have seen it coming when Carter acted independently of the Clinton administration to negotiate with Kim Jong Il in '93. Apparently, even former U.S. Presidents get ronery when irrelevance hits them. We all know the results...North Korea kept developing nukes in spite of a framework Carter provided. Shocking.
A man who micromanaged the greatest nation on earth into malaise, demonstrating incompetence on issues foreign and domestic, ranging from defense to economics, blew it again. State funerals should provide the only camera time for President Carter, seen and not heard.
I suppose I should point out that he did get two things right. For my lefties out there, Carter did give us both a section of ANWAR reserved for oil exploration and the FISA Act. Bush is getting the blame, but hell, why confuse issues with facts.
Clinton is guilty of this, but I really don't think he can help himself. It doesn't make it right, but the man is the quintessential politician, which I mean both as an insult and a compliment. He's young enough to still be passionate, and this country's cult-like obsession with him feeds into a necessarily large ego. Hell, if you don't have an ego the size of your home state, you're not going run for the job in the first place.
All that being said, Clinton is what he is, and seems less offensive to me. The one who really gets my Irish up is Carter. By all accounts, a wonderful human being, and nice guy. I admire the yeoman's work put into Habitat for Humanity. We should have seen it coming when Carter acted independently of the Clinton administration to negotiate with Kim Jong Il in '93. Apparently, even former U.S. Presidents get ronery when irrelevance hits them. We all know the results...North Korea kept developing nukes in spite of a framework Carter provided. Shocking.
A man who micromanaged the greatest nation on earth into malaise, demonstrating incompetence on issues foreign and domestic, ranging from defense to economics, blew it again. State funerals should provide the only camera time for President Carter, seen and not heard.
I suppose I should point out that he did get two things right. For my lefties out there, Carter did give us both a section of ANWAR reserved for oil exploration and the FISA Act. Bush is getting the blame, but hell, why confuse issues with facts.
posted by PKav at 11:31 AM
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