Bill's Meltdown

Bill melting down with Wallace -- Photo courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I saw the television excerpt of ex-President Clinton's interview last week with Fox's Chris Wallace. My own impression was that Clinton lost his cool, and ended up looking decidedly nonpresidential -- in an angry huff. In what has alternately been billed as "Bill's meltdown" or "Clinton's hissy fit", Clinton tore into Wallace when he asked if Clinton could've done more to apprehend Bin Laden, while still President.

The question wasn't really hardball, and it was one that the smooth ex-President would normally skate around with convivial ease. Instead, he glowered and fumed -- insisted that he had done much more to kill Bin Laden than W. Bush. He accused Wallace of being part of a "FOX hit squad" and further accused Wallace of wearing a smirk. Some mostly liberal pundits thought that Clinton was behaving this way on purpose -- to serve as his wife's campaign attack dog and to put the GOP on notice that Dems will not be characterized as soft on defense in 2006 mid-terms. The sense was that Clinton was trying a "look-tough" strategy.

But the feeling from here is that Clinton was having a bad day and it showed up on camera. The glowering rage, the sarcasm and the overreaction all belie any kind of planned attack campaign. A smooth operator doesn't let people see him rant or sweat, ever. Clinton has been characterized by former aids as having a finely sublimated temper, one that sometimes finds expression in private strategy sessions -- seldom in front of press or cameras.

Flaming liberal that I am, I'll let Clinton have a pass on this one. Content-wise, he was mostly correct in his statements about Bin Laden. Other politicians have done as bad or worse in the presence of press. Bush has twice been caught speaking improprieties when he thought the microphone was off (once calling a news writer an "asshole" at a campaign rally, and at the UN speaking frankly about how to deal with a hostile country). Then there was his interview with Bryan Williams where Bush described his reading list as "epileptic" when surely he meant "eclectic". OK, everyone gets a pass today. Who among us would have perfect composure or grammar all the time, when living in a media fish bowl? Bill, take a chill pill. And George W, what can I say -- learn some words, both new and old.

© 2006 blogSpotter.