Clinton's Farewell Tour
Bill Clinton lets his hair down in the last of three interviews with Rolling Stone editor (and Democratic Party donor) Jann Wenner. You can listen to excerpts from the interviews on the magazine's Web site. Some highlights:
On the 22nd Amendment. Clinton says he would have been tempted to run for president again and probably would have won. And he unveils a rationale for amending the Constitution to allow him to serve a third term: rising life expectancy. We don't quite get his point. The 22nd Amendment, which established the two-term limit, was ratified in 1951, when the average 60-year old man had 15.4 years left to live on average; in 1995 the average 60-year old man had 17.4 years left. Life expectancy, that is, had gone up all of half a presidential term since the amendment was adopted. What's more, John Adams and Herbert Hoover, who both lived to be 90, were one-termers, while FDR, elected four times, died at 63.
On drugs. The man who didn't inhale says: "I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be." He adds: "We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment. . . . A lot of people are in prison because they have drug problems or alcohol problems and too many of them are getting out--particularly out of state systems--without treatment, without education, without skills, without serious efforts at job placement."
On the election. He predicts--the interview was conducted before Nov. 7--that "Gore will win Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan. I always thought Gore would win Florida. We worked like crazy there for eight years. And we've done a lot for Florida and a lot with Florida--and Joe Lieberman has helped a lot in Florida. So I think Gore will win." Well, two out of three ain't bad.
On impeachment. Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Clinton says, "did what he was paid to do. . . . The right wing was in control of the Congress and . . . they thought they had a free shot to put a hit on me, and so they did. I don't think it's complicated."
On homosexuals in the military. Republicans "didn't want me to have a honeymoon in office," Clinton says, so they maneuvered him into acting on his campaign promise, knowing Congress wouldn't uphold it. "It was only then that I worked out with Colin Powell this dumb-ass 'don't ask, don't tell' thing."
Pardon Him
With Independent Counsel Robert Ray reinterviewing Monica Lewinsky and reigniting talk about a postpresidency indictment of Clinton, what better way for George W. Bush to fulfill the BushCheneyTransition.com slogan of "Bringing America Together" than by pardoning his predecessor? Seth Gitell floats the idea in the Boston Phoenix.
The links:
rollingstone.com
foxnews.com
abcnews.go.com
chicagotribune.com
chicagotribune.com |
