Hillary’s Chances Depend On Bill Clinton’s Legacy

Despite all of Bill Clinton’s success as president, all you really hear these days is whether the Democratic hero is getting in the way of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The fact of the matter is, Hillary Clinton cannot escape history so she is going to have to embrace it as she moves forward with her campaign.

The debate for Democrats and the media revolves around whether Hillary Clinton can get out from under Bill Clinton’s shadow.  Meanwhile, Republicans seem intent to ride the “Clinton lied first” propaganda into the sunset.   Now, Bill Clinton is working hard and hoping to help distinguish Hillary Clinton from his Presidency while clearing his name with the media and young voters.

Why bother with Bill Clinton’s legacy, anyway? 

Bill Clinton’s Legacy, like it or not, will be vital to Hillary Clinton’s candidacy as the general election approaches.  An excerpt from the Washington Post:

“Ken Starr spent $70 million and indicted innocent people to find out that I wouldn’t take a nickel to see the cow jump over the moon,” he told the students last week, his eyes narrowing and his finger jabbing the air. At another point, he complained that the investigations during his White House days virtually bankrupted him: “The Republicans were so mean to me when I was president that I was poorer when I left than when I got there.”

My memory of Bill Clinton is admittedly much higher than most.  In my view, he was the best pure politician to reach the White House and the only thing holding President Clinton from being regarded in the same light that Republicans hold Reagan in, is the Monica Lewinsky debacle.

It was only ten years ago, that the Monica Lewinsky perjury scandal  took the media and Americans by storm.  Independent counsel and now famed Republican Ken Starr initiated the investigation that kicked off a serious debate about privacy and family among politicos.  Plenty of arguments were made against Bill Clinton, ranging from “he made a mistake, people make mistakes” to “he committed treason”.   Our highly polarized America became more evident than ever as truth was revealed and it was just the beginning of what has become a catalyst for partisan warfare over America’s future.

As Clinton travels the country campaigning for his wife with characteristic intensity, he is fighting not only to promote Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy but also to set the record straight on the two terms he spent in the White House. And if some cast the Democratic nomination battle as a test of whether the party wants to turn the page on the Clinton years, then he is determined to win the referendum.

It’s not surprising that Bill Clinton would attempt to defend his legacy and clear his name with voters that were in diapers and learning to speak their first words.  Over the last 10 years, I’d say that the conservative sound bytes on Bill Clinton have been much louder than Clinton’s defense of his successful years as president.   If Hillary Clinton is to have a chance against Barack Obama and later the Republican nominee, her husband needs to reclaim his public image.

While some feminist leaning Democrats and activists are disgusted by this line of rhetoric, it’s a fact of life that marriage ties people together.   Feminists have argued that Hillary Clinton is her own woman and it is unfair to characterize her leadership by comparing it to her husband, President Bill Clinton.  It’s not only unfair, there’s a chance that not even Hillary Clinton could live up to the legacy of Bill Clinton while he was in office.  Even Hillary’s campaign strategists have admitted that Bill Clinton is a brilliant political strategist, even if he isn’t always on the same page.

“He’s not always singing from the same song sheet,” a Clinton campaign adviser acknowledged. “He’s the best political strategist in the world. Sometimes he’s got ideas and he runs with it. Probably half the time he was right and we were wrong.”

For Democrats, Bill Clinton was ‘the man’ and he did more good for their cause and “justice” than any Democrat could have hoped for.  As long as feminists try to brush Bill Clinton aside and essentially allow the mud to be tossed at Bill Clinton without defending his case, they will see their hero Hillary Clinton fade into the background.

If Hillary Clinton wants a chance to win in 2008, she’s going to need her husband.  She is going to need a strong  Bill Clinton or she may as well pack it in now because Republicans are going to have their guns loaded and won’t hesitate to shoot at a Clinton.  They will first attack her husband and finish the assault by clamoring about her lack of experience that should disqualify her to be our President.

After all, she only got to the top because of her husband, Bill Clinton, isn’t that right?

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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