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2006-09-27 Home Front: Politix
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"I Failed"
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Amid Clinton-Wallace babble, 2 words get lost
Within 24 hours of Bill Clinton's public paddling on Sunday of Chris Wallace on the Fox News Channel, pundits, politicians and a salivating army of miked-and-ready windbags had already meticulously sliced and diced the conversation to within an inch of its life, exercising the kind of analytic fervor customarily reserved for the text of a newly uncovered gospel.
Hard-core conservatives claimed that Clinton's meltdown was carefully preplanned and cagily calculated, a September Surprise orchestrated solely to pump up the Democratic Party while setting the stage for his wife's much-rumored run for the White House.
Perennial presidential adviser David Gergen, meanwhile, couldn't restrain a slight smile as he told CNN's Anderson Cooper that Clinton's touchiness was understandable, given Wallace's insinuation that Sept. 11, 2001, could be laid at Clinton's feet. Gergen also noted that Clinton's performance in the Fox faceoff was just the kind of lesson in counterpunching that could inspire Democrats this campaign season.
And over in the blogosphere, Arianna Huffington split the difference. Applauding Clinton for tossing obvious Republican National Committee talking points back in Wallace's face, she also gave the 42nd president a nice "it's-about-time" jab in the ribs. "That bipartisan love-in he's been engaged in over the last several years," wrote Huffington, "has resulted in jack-squat."
Continued from Page 4
And yet for all the chatter about the unexpected Foxfire--which arguably edged out the National Football League and Major League Baseball for the weekend's best sporting event--I have yet to hear one analysis of the encounter that zeroes in on perhaps the two most important words spoken by Clinton during his dress-down of Wallace:
"I failed."
No less than three times during the 10-minute squabble, Bill Clinton candidly acknowledged his unsuccessful attempts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and pull the plug on Al Qaeda during his presidency, each time underscoring his sworn responsibility to have done so and his deep regret at having not succeeded.
"I tried and I failed to get bin Laden," he told Wallace a third time, his words unencumbered by either sanctimony or spin. "I regret it. But I did try. And I did everything I thought I responsibly could."
This is why Bill Clinton left office with a higher approval rating than any departing president since such polling began.
When it comes to American presidents, history has proven time and again that the strongest leaders are those who cop to their weakest moments.
John F. Kennedy held a news conference within days of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, taking full responsibility for the fiasco. This candid contrition not only sparked a skyrocket in Kennedy's poll numbers, but it also earned him the respect and authority he'd need 18 months later, when he carefully steered the nation through the touch-and-go Cuban Missile Crisis.
Then there was Ronald Reagan in 1987, who after a few false starts ultimately took a pass on the "I am not a crook" option of a Republican predecessor and sucked up the blame for the convoluted Iran-contra mess. The guy wound up on a stamp.
And, yes, despite his initial--and notorious--finger-wagging denial of the Monica Lewinsky debacle, Bill Clinton eventually begged the nation's forgiveness for his lies and lapses (some say ad nauseam) and the country lapped it up. America loves its reformed sinners.
By contrast, George W. Bush continues to pass the buck. Not once in six years has this president looked the nation squarely in its eye and plainly uttered the words, "I failed." Not with Abu Ghraib. Not with Katrina. Not with Iraq.
This is why Bill Clinton's clash with Chris Wallace was so inspiring. Because amid the poking and prodding, the raised eyebrows and clenched jaw, the man simply said he had tried and failed. And that he was sorry.
Logic only a Donk could love. 
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Posted by Thesing Unavise4426 2006-09-27 10:50||
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Posted by rjschwarz 2006-09-27 13:48||
2006-09-27 13:48||
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Posted by anon 2006-09-27 15:29||
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Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-09-27 23:18||
2006-09-27 23:18||
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