But there is also some strong negatives. She comments on how his instincts on race and on America's workers might have strongly benefited them, but he wasted that capital when he had his dalliance with Ms. Lewinsky. And then she states, "And then there is the matter of Osama bin Laden and his network of jihadists, al-Qaida. In his autobiography, "My Life," Clinton writes of a difficult period in 1998 when he was trying to salvage his marriage while also confronting al-Qaida attacks on U.S. embassies. On vacation with Hillary, he said, "I spent the first couple of days alternating between begging forgiveness and planning the strikes on al-Qaida."
That about says it all, doesn't it? Even Clinton, with his legendary ability to "compartmentalize," couldn't possibly have concentrated fully on the threat. He was not only distracted, but he was also boxed in by the scandal. Any attempt to deal more harshly with bin Laden would have been derided by political foes accusing him of trying to divert the public's attention."
She ends with this painfully true statement.
"If he genuinely believed that they [conservative Republicans] didn't have the best interests of the nation at heart, he had a moral responsibility to outmaneuver them. Instead, he gave them the ammunition they needed to impeach him."
I have reevaluated my opinions on Clinton in the last year or so. I really had a big problem with his affair with Ms. Lewinsky. Strip away all the rationalizations, and that was an enormous failing. This doesn't negate the attacks by the Right, and the many lies they have told about him over the years (such as the ones about Vince Foster). But it cost him, and more importantly it cost the country the ability to make some vastly needed changes.
"It is with our passions, as it is with fire and water, they are good servants but bad masters." - Aesop
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