Trey Ellis on Bill Bashing

Keep Bashing Bill to Retain a Republican Presidency:

The Democratic Presidential race is pure politics between consenting adults and the barbs traded on all sides have been well within the norm of contemporary politicking and positively tea-party genteel compared to past elections in our nation's history. As James Carville put it, they're not campaigning for commencement speaker at Williams College. Bill Clinton plays hardball because winning politics is hardball.

I mean, have Democrats forgotten how absolutely tepid and passive we have been on a national stage ever since Bill left office? Have Democrats forgotten that since him we have always lost and if the war in Iraq hadn't capsized the Bush presidency Democrats would be about as relevant to modern day governing as the Whigs?

Folks who called his aggressive boosterism for his wife "Rovian" do so because they genuinely love Obama and take it personally when he's criticized. That type of adoration is wonderful and admirable and inspiring, but it can also smack of a cult of personality that can easily cloud the hardboiled rational judgment one needs to defeat the Republicans.

Obama himself is better and smarter than that and no cry-baby.

The MSM not only has a visceral disdain for Hillary (who fanned that predisposition herself for years by perpetually snubbing the press), they have also hated Bill, even though he is by far the nation's most popular Democrat since JFK. If it were constitutionally possible to run again Bill would probably trounce even (the new) Al Gore (who seems to be pretty much every Democrat's dream candidate).

Bill knows the drill and has said publicly that if Obama wins the nomination he will fight tirelessly to get him in the White House. We Democrats need to remember that. We need Bill healthy for the coming fight and need to remember that taking him down early is the Republicans' best hope at retaining the White House.

Although I'm 6' 2" and black I suck at basketball. Nevertheless I love it as a metaphor. We're in the playoffs now and people take sides and the players throw elbows to win. However the real prize is the all-star game against the other conference. Bill Clinton is our Shaquille O'Neal and we need to make sure he stays in the game.

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