Archive [March 2000]

Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address this January was the longest in recent history, containing 132 new or increased government spending initiatives. His proposals from that speech alone, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, would cost taxpayers $288 billion.

Clinton has thrown himself into an “ambitious” final-year agenda, according to Newsweek. “During the working day he spends hours in policy sessions and unveiling new initiatives. At night he heads up to the residence with a wonky policy book to read in bed.” Ahem.

Ever since his impeachment, Bill Clinton has been desperately trying to get fertilized. He is holding up his legacy egg, hoping for one or more of these grand schemes to inseminate the egg and provide him with a viable legacy — other than one labeled “Monica.”

It’s not working. In early February, a survey of historians ranked Mr. Clinton 41st — dead last — among all American Presidents in “moral authority.” That’s right; the only elected President ever to be impeached, the only President ever held in contempt of court, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, beat out Richard Nixon for last place. White House flack Joe Lockhart responded that “It often takes the passing of time to understand the full meaning of one’s leadership ability. I suspect that’s more a reaction to reading the tabloids than a fair reading of history.”

Mr. Lockhart, would you please tell us how the passing of time will make getting a Lewinsky from a 21-year-old intern in the Oval Orifice look better in the context of history? Or committing perjury before a grand jury? Or blowing up aspirin factories in the Sudan to distract attention from your own scandals? Hmmm? Au contraire, Mr. Lockhart. I predict that Bill Clinton’s place at the bottom of that list is secure forever. And that’s the only Clinton legacy his egg can deliver.