Hard To Be Bill

It's hard for Bill Clinton to be a surrogate for his wife. He is one of the most gifted politicians of the past one hundred years, when he is speaking for himself. Though Barack Obama has benefited from Clinton's skills at explaining things in terms everyone can understand. Bill Clinton's speech at the 2012 Democratic Convention did more good for Obama than anything the candidate himself said.

This past week Bill Clinton was involved in a kerfluffle, don't you just love that word? Sounds like something the cat threw up. At a Hillary event that Bill was speaking at a Black Lives Matter activist decided to begin a shouting dialogue with the former President over the 1990's Crime Bill and Hillary Clinton's then use of the word super-predator when describing certain gang members.

Let's stop there and acknowledge that earlier this year at a NAACP event President Bill Clinton said the Crime Bill went too far and needs to be fixed. Hillary Clinton had already apologized for the use of the word super-predator and wouldn't use it now.

Now back to our story, already in progress. So what was the point of the activists actions? I certainly identify with anyone who feels marginalized and shoved aside but here's a tip, never yell in protest at a target with a rapid fire mind capable of cutting you down quickly and coherently. Bill Clinton has such a mind. He's also going to passionately defend his wife and his own Presidential legacy. The next day he used the incident as a teaching moment to say the engagement was wrong and illustrated how we are no longer talking to each other but past each other.

I would like to offer another teaching moment, stop trying to rewrite history. The Crime Bill of the 1990's had wide support including Democrats, Republicans, African-American political and religious leaders as well as many in the broader African-American community who were being victimized by violent drug gangs that had taken over their neighborhoods. The U.S. was at a thirty year violent crime high. Some younger activists and older ones that know better are trying to scrub away all of those facts and portray the legislation as a racist act by a white guy from Arkansas. That is not a truthful account.

That Crime Bill needs to be repealed and replaced. Only a Democratic President is likely to lead that battle but they'll need Republican help to achieve it. Fortunately there appears to be  Republicans who believe we need to reform the criminal justice system.

As the leading linguist in Hindtit I can make a case for the justified use of the term super-predator. The lion is a super-predator of the animal kingdom and make no mistake the deadliest super-predator on the planet is man.

Bill Clinton was not wrong in his response to the protester. His facts were correct, perhaps bad politics but accurate. He had other kerfluffles in Hillary's 2008 Campaign. Remember in South Carolina when he said that this guy who had been in the Senate less than a year and was being built up as a saviour was a big fantasy? Guess what? He was right.

Sometimes the truth is unpleasant but hey if you don't like it just rewrite history and hang out with the other ostriches.