Clinton Missed Chance at Greatness?

EIB ^ | Rush Limbaugh

[VinnyTex]

When the first sentence of a column begins, "Lucky though he was, Bill Clinton never had his shot at greatness," what exactly do you interpret that to mean? Chris Matthews wrote it, and proceeded with the following two sentences. "He could lower the jobless rate, balance the budget, console us after the Oklahoma City bombing. But he never got the opportunity George W. Bush was given this Tuesday: the historic chance to lead."

		Are you interpreting this the way I am? He seems to be lamenting the fact that Bill Clinton never had a national tragedy in which to display his magnificent leadership characteristics. As though George W. Bush is thanking God and his lucky stars that thousands of Americans are dead so that he can get a couple of favorable columns from Johnny Apple of the New York Times and Howard Fineman of Newsweek? This is just so typical of how some in the media look at news and what they think the purpose of a news event is. It's all about them! It's all about an opportunity for them to shine and look good. I guess I shouldn't even be surprised by this, but I am nevertheless disappointed. The fact that presidential greatness is measured by a president's handling of great challenges is true. But that's not the same as saying in the context of recent events that Bill Clinton was unlucky because, in essence, this carnage didn't happen on his watch and thereby give him his chance at greatness. I mean, what are we supposed to do here, be sorry that the terrorists didn't hit when Clinton was president so he'd have his chance at greatness? This is just Bush's dumb luck? Why, Clinton might finally have had a chance to win the Nobel Peace Prize had the terrorists done this nine months ago? The simple fact of the matter, Chris, is that they did do this before. They hit us in Africa. They hit us in Saudi Arabia. They hit the USS Cole. And Bill Clinton didn't do anything about it. Bill Clinton, in fact, bombed innocent people on the day that Monica Lewinsky was testifying before her grand jury. This is outrageous. This is simply unbelievable.

		Sunday night, on 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl reported that in 1998 Bill Clinton issued a directive allowing the use of force to apprehend Osama bin Laden, and that one such effort had been tried but failed. She said that Clinton decided that there was a self-defense exception to the legal prohibition against assassination. Dan Rather, to his credit, asked Stahl why this is coming out now. She said she didn't know why, but assumed that her sources didn't want the public to think that Clinton was asleep at the wheel back then while bin Laden was going bonkers. So you've got damage control going on by Bill Clinton right now. Very interesting. The Associated Press reported last week that Clinton passed up an opportunity at the end of his administration to take another military whack at bin Laden. The Washington Timesand others have reported that in 1995 Clinton restricted the CIA's human intelligence capabilities by prohibiting the CIA's use of any spies who had dirty hands. We're not going to do business with former terrorists, in essence, is what Clinton said, which would make it impossible to infiltrate these groups. And there's more, which I point out in the audio link below. It's unfortunate that national security was never a priority in the Clinton administration. They cut the defense budget below acceptable levels, and as recently as two weeks ago, the Senate was preparing to hold back the defense appropriations bill for partisan political purposes. Think about that.

[iwantmore]

In the MIDDLE of this tradgedy, in a church... He's gawking at Laura... And there's no DOUBT about it, he's also JEALOUS of President Bush. He even tried to make his own receiving line AFTER the memorial service. How PATHETIC can you get, at a TIME like THIS.

[mombonn]

Clinton was a national tragedy.

Amen, and amen.

Slight editorial modification - clinton WAS a national tragedy, and remains so to this day.

[Political Junkie Too]

Clinton tried to concoct greatness by using sleep deprivation tactics during the Middle East Peace Process, and by lobbying the Nobel committee for a prize.

-PJ

[Campion]

Clinton had his "historic chance to lead" starting 1/20/93. Every President has it. Clinton had it for eight years.

The results of eight years of Clinton's "leadership" are a smoldering pile of rubble in lower Manhattan, and more than 5,000 dead Americans. May God preserve us from any more of that kind of "leadership".

[Dale 1]

Clinton could be a defense attorney for Osama bin Laden.

"I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation,'' said the statement, broadcast by Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel."

Now is that Clintonisque or what? Of course he didn't "carry our these acts", those guys are dead. But I suppose it might make a difference knowing that meaning of "is".

I agree with you that X-42 may very well be this guys attorney.

[shield]

I agree bubba had plenty of chances. Instead he covered up the attacks.....TWA800 and OKC Bombing....OKC Bombing had the middle east all over it....instead it was covered up!!!

Whats really remembered about bubba is killing over 80 American men, women and children at a church outside of WACO in his first 100 days in office.

[ChocChipCookie]

Poor Bill. The only U.S. President in history who never had a chance to be a leader. Character trumps charisma every time. (At least some people say he has charisma. He looks like a bloated buffoon to me.)

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ya saved it, but go check.....I'll bet you can't open it!! Someone, HELP! I WANT THAT ONE!!!!

[Re-electNobody]

In a similar vein, presidents that have kept us out of war do not get the historians' high ratings that Wilson and FDR get.

[sport]

B.S. Vinnie. clinton was never anything but a scumbag,and he will never be anything but a scumbag.

There is an old saying, I don't know where it orginated butv it goes somehing like this: You can make a whore out of a lady, but you can't make a lady out of a whore.
clinton is the whore.

[Political Junkie Too]

Clinton could be a defense attorney for Osama bin Laden.

Except that his law license was suspended for five years.

-PJ

[FlyVet]

Because of his lack of character, he ended up spending the majority of his time in office soliciting illegal campaign contributions and doing damage control.

Seemed to me he spent half his time globe-trotting. A continuous vacation on our dime, after campaigning against Bush Sr. because he spent too much time on foreign policy. Now, Clinton's "foreign policy" has come home to roost.

[TC Rider]

Don't be too hard on Chris, (yeah right), but Clinton himself has lamented several times, at least once publicly, that he got screwed on the greatness thing. Chris in his 'inside baseball' way, is being utterly sarcastic to Clinton. IMOH

Message to Bill in Chapaqua: Ha Ha, you blew it big guy. You can't hit home runs, if you never step up to the plate.

[deport]

Try here and Here

[Brad’s Gramma]

Many many thanks. I've sent them to my brother who just (cough cough COUGH) "Loves" the man. I'm kidding. He loathes him...

[Goodness Gracious]

BTTT

[MissAmericanPie]

Is he checking out Barbara or Bush Sr? Clinton is most likely wishing he could knot his tie as well. Didn't have a pop's to teach him, you know.

[Victoria Delsoul]

He seems to be lamenting the fact that Bill Clinton never had a national tragedy in which to display his magnificent leadership characteristics.

Clinton had a chance at greatness during the first bombing of the WTC or during the bombing of the US destroyer Cole, or during the destruction of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. All those attacks were perpetrated by Bin Laden and his terrorist group. He could have shown greatness during the fuel truck bomb that killed 19 American soldiers and wounded nearly 400 others at a US military complex near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia or during the bomb attack on a US-run military center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed seven people, five of them Americans.

He had a chance to display leadership many times during his 8 years of presidency. However, what he showed us was his cowardly acquiescence in Saddam Hussein's flagrant violations of the Gulf War agreement, except for his diversionary air strikes during the impeachment vote before Congress. He showed his unwillingness to punish Bin Laden and the perpetrators who bombed the USS Cole, and the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He weakened the military by cutting resources and financial support to the military and Intelligence and he had a reckless disregard of national security. We know that this attack has taken years in the making, just becoming a pilot requires time.

What Clinton showed was moral weakness, lies, deceit and corruption. It's not the number of dead that allows someone to claim greatness, but it's the man itself -- GW Bush is a great man, a leader, a man of integrity, honesty and with a good heart. A man I'm proud to call, Mr. President!

[billorites]

"Didn't he have a pop's to teach him, you know. "

Of course Bill Clinton had a Pop to teach him.

Not quite sure of his name, though.