Hating Clinton Vs. Hating Bush

The world is often more complicated than it initially appears. There were a lot of Republicans attacking President Clinton during his presidency. And there are a lot of Democrats attacking President Bush now. But are the two situations equivelent? Jonah Goldberg says yes, but I don't see it myself.

For one thing, Clinton Haters, in many cases, were extremely well funded. The Bush hate machine people aren't, in general, paid to attack President Bush.

Secondly, reactions to Clinton by the Clinton Haters were vicreal before he even stepped into office. Witness their willingness to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars tracking down Whitewater only to end up with Monica Lewinsky. There are those on the Left who hated President Bush on sight; but President Bush is regularly attacked on things he's actually done while President (such as attacking Iraq).

Goldbergs article is interesting in how skews the hatred. Conservative hatred for Former President Clinton is charectarized as mildly wanting to investigate Travelgate and Whitewater, while the more vicious attacks on President Clinton were from "Fringe groups" who the press latched on and distorted to make it seem like these attacks were coming from mainstream Conservatives.

In contrast, those who attack President Bush are part and parcel of the Democratic party and any candidate the Democratic party puts forward in the election. They are calling President Bush Hitler and insinuating that he started the Iraq war for base political motives. Democratic activists, apparently, call President Bush a murderer.

One thing working in Goldberg's favor is that the American people do have a short memory. I don't know if it will be enough in this place.

I do need to assure the public that I do not believe President Bush is a murder (nor was President Clinton, in case you are wondering). I don't think that President Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened or any such nonsense. I do believe he's been a failure as a President and I hope that we can replace him next year--but that's all part of the political game.