Nice to see

[ImOuttaControl]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6803476/site/newsweek/


Well, 4-5 years ago I would have never started a thread like this. As someone who never really liked Clinton that much when he was President, I have to say I've really began to respect him in the last few years. I think in the time he left office, he's shown a lot of class. When liberals like Al Gore, Michael Moore..ect began the nasty personal attacks last year--which in my opinion led to the disgraceful negative camaigning of both the Kerry and Bush camps-- Clinton stayed out of the personal attacks. Instead, he's been able to separate the politics from the person, which in the U.S. today is something I really respect. I think he realizes that working with someone is much easier than working against them. My political preferences are at odds with a great deal of the liberal agenda, but I believe a divided government is the best goverment, so I would like to see the Democrats able to at least take back a house in Congress in '08. I just hope the Democratic Party takes notes from Clinton. The ultra lefties need to stop the whining and sore losing, stop the conspiracy theories and try to get something done.

 

[U2democrat]

Clinton. He could have amounted to even greater things if only he had been a stronger man.

Nice article though.

 

[Irvine511]

oh Clinton. what a waste of once-in-a-lifetime political skills and an extraordinary mind -- just listening to him reason through a problem is exhilerating. oh, what could have been had you not been so personally destructive, *and* had Republicans not spent taxpayer money trying to tag him with something ... anything ... something ... a blow job!

again:

let's hope he can outdo Carter as the former president who has done the most for the rest of the world. if there is *anyone* who can help us mend the damage done to our worldwide image, it's him (i was stunned, STUNNED, at the amount of love for Bill i found in the traditionally anti-american climbes of European academia).

this is a start.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

Out of all the democratic political figures that spoke during 2004, Clinton was the most impressive. For him to avoid negative campaigning is quite respectable. He's quite the opposite of Howard Dean.

 

[U2Kitten]

Though I wasn't happy with Clinton as Pres. he is a funny guy who'd be fun to hang out with.

One thing that bugs me about Carter is that he was actually a very BAD president, well, inept anyway, and let the economy get so bad the prices went way up, as well as other things. There was a reason he was defeated in a landslide, he had to go. It had nothing to do with morality as some of you have come to believe, Carter was not your typical left wing liberal anyway so that was not an issue. Here was a man who thought lusting in your heart was a sin, come on. But now all these years later, he's done good in other ways, peace prize, speaking, etc. and now people who weren't around back then believe he was a wonderful president but he was not. He was a good guy, and still is, but he was not a good leader. Don't confuse the two please.

 

[verte76]

Clinton is by far the best campaigner I've ever seen. He was the only one who held off on the personal attacks last year. If only he'd been a better man. I liked his policies, for the most part, but deplored his moral shortcomings.
U2Kitten, you're right about Carter. He was a pretty inept president. Even *he* thinks the present work he's doing is what God intended him to do, and politics was only a stepping stone. He wouldn't be able to do what he's doing if he hadn't had a political career. God really does work in mysterious ways!

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'd like to know what they say about each other in private

Seriously that is nice to see - Bill Clinton has a wonderful way w/ people, and he has shown so much class

 

[Irvine511]

who's more charasmatic: Bono or Bill?

IMHO, too close to call.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

who's more charasmatic: Bono or Bill?

IMHO, too close to call.

well I'd have to have some time alone w/ each of them, then I'll let you know

 

[A_Wanderer]

Bill Clinton is a president who understood that America could be a force for good in the post cold war playing field, mistakes were made of course (not least Somalia and Rwanda) but there were wise moves as well.

I think that these two stories as well as numerous interviews show that he is one of the few individuals out there who can offer an opinion with perspective on what the punditry bemoan to no end.

Former US president Bill Clinton said in October during a visit to Portugal that he was convinced Iraq had weapons of mass destruction up until the fall of Saddam Hussein, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said.

"When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime," he said in an interview with Portuguese cable news channel SIC Noticias.

And you may be interested to know that any time he referred to the Bush administration, or alluded to it, it was in a complimentary way. He told this crowd — again, a crowd that could use hearing it, especially from this source — that much of what we're doing, successfully, in the War on Terror never makes the newspapers. For example, "cells are rolled up," which you never hear about. The administration has achieved "cooperation with other governments" that is not "inherently sensational" but "has saved a lot of people's lives." You never hear about this bomb found in this container on this cargo ship destined for this port — and "I could give you 50 other examples."

I said it before and i'll say it again both Clinton and Bush are on the level, they have to deal with the same types of threats, make the tough decisions and get grilled big time by their political opponents who are out for blood - it is an unenviable task and I think that the mutual respect they have shown to eachother in the public arena at least is a reflection of this. to Bill Clinton.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

who's more charasmatic: Bono or Bill?

IMHO, too close to call.

I'd have to agree with you on this one. For better or worse, Clinton is a very skilled debater who can turn undecideds and followers of his into loyal supporters. They don't call him the dem's best weapon for nothing. Bono is undoubtedly charismatic, all you need is to watch 20 minutes of U2 performing for proof. He does have his moments as a human being where he loses it (ex: Apparently flicking a fan off on the Boston DVD at the beginning of Sunday Bloody Sunday after someone threw something at him, spitting and cursing at the crowd, etc). I guess you can compare that to Clinton's moral shortcomings, as Verte put it. It's a tough question to answer, but Bono would probably win the vote on a U2 forum.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Bill the politician who tried to have the charisma of a rock star or Bono the rock star who tries to gain the credibility of a politician