Former presidents do not often write about their predecessors in the White House. There are some exceptions, of course -- for example, Herbert Hoover.
Hoover spent a good deal of his more than three decades of post-presidential life writing, and penned a fascinating account of a president he served in "The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson."
Bill Clinton has taken to the pages of The New York Times to weigh in on the fourth volume of Robert Caros magisterial biography ofLyndon B. Johnson. Whatever Clintons successes and failures in office, he never quite hit the highs and lows that LBJ did, but his review does offer some interesting insights into how the president uses power.
According to Caro, Johnson responded, Well, what the hells the presidency for? This is the question everypresident must ask and answer, Clinton wrote. For Lyndon Johnson in the final weeks of 1963, the presidency was for two things: passing a civil rights bill with teeth, to replace the much weaker 1957 law hed helped to pass as Senate majority leader, and launching the War on Poverty. That neither of these causes was in fact hopeless was clear possibly only to him, as few Americans in our history have matched Johnsons knowledge of how to move legislation, and legislators.
Point taken, but its fair to say that Clinton --as he clearly showed during his eight years in the White House --was not one of those Americans who matched LBJs ability to move legislation. Even with Democrats controlling both chambers in Congress, Clintons health-care bill went down in flames in the first two years of his presidency.
While Clinton turned to the Republicans to get some legislative victories -- welfare reform and NAFTA, for example -- he still suffered some major losses. In 1997, for example, before news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, Clinton pushed for fast-track authority on trade deals but failed to get it through Congress despite his convincing win over Bob Dole for a second term the year before.
True, Clinton never hit the lows that Johnson did. While there were some foreign-policy headaches like Haiti and Somalia early in Clintons tenure, he never made the blunders that LBJ did in Vietnam. Clinton also drew little fire on the war on terror, even from his harshest critics, despite the 9/11 attacks occurring eight months after he left the White House. Had he been able to run for a third term, Clinton would have easily won the Democratic nomination. Its impossible to imagine someone like Russ Feingold or the late Paul Wellstone denying Clinton the nomination the way that Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy helped end LBJs political career.
Clinton remains one of the more popular politicians in America and there are myriad reasons for this. He scores points with the American public for fond memories of the era over which he presided. Haynes Johnson entitled his look at the Clinton years "The Best of Times" and there is some truth to this since the '90s seem, in retrospect, to be the peak of American economic history.
Even Republicans try to get Clinton in their corner. With Clinton hitting the campaign trail for Barack Obama this past weekend, Mitt Romneys team looked to use the 42nd president against the 44th.
Last night, President Obama stood beside former President Clinton in an effort to validate his failed first term in office, Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney, said on Monday. Conveniently, they failed to mention President Clintons prescient warnings that then-Senator Obama wasnt ready for the presidency. We agreed with President Clinton then, and we still agree with those sentiments today.
So Clinton gets points for the economy in the 1990s. They may not be enough to salvage his historic reputation in the long run. While Warren G. Harding ended Wilsons policies of segregating the federal government, and unemployment dropped from 12 percent to 3 percent under his watch, historians --pointing to the Teapot Dome scandal and his cronies in the Ohio Gang --have written him off as one of the worst presidents. Hardings historic reputation was also hurt by his constant womanizing -- something that could also hinder Clintons legacy in the decades to come.
Clinton could also receive a boost when he is compared to other presidents of recent decades. With the exception of Ronald Reagan, most recent presidents are either seen as mediocre and forgettable -- Gerald Ford, even George H.W. Bush despite his solid record in the Gulf War and facing the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unification of Germany -- or simply lousy like Jimmy Carter. George W. Bush may have defeated Clintons vice president for the White House and Obama held off Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008, but their records in the Oval Office only made Bill Clinton look better by comparison.
Whatever his faults and flaws, it must be conceded that Clinton is very sharp and has an impressive grasp on history and politics which he used to polish his political career. Clinton -- like George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot -- tried to wrap himself in the legacy of Harry Truman back in 1992 when Americans were reading David McCulloughs biography of our 33rd president. In January 1993, Clinton tried to claim Thomas Jeffersons mantle and even rode from Monticello to Washington before his inaugural. But by 1997, pundit Hugh Sidey and some historians were pointing to another president that reminded them of Clinton -- Rutherford B. Hayes, the forgettable president best known for his close victory in winning the 1876 presidential election, impressive facial hair and his wife who earned the nickname Lemonade Lucy for her opposition to alcohol.
Clinton will certainly fare better in historical memory than Hayes did. But, even at his best, Clinton never had the success that LBJ or Truman or Reagan or FDR did -- to say nothing of the likes of Washington and Lincoln. While some presidential legacies grow as the years pass -- Trumans being a solid example -- others, like McKinleys and Coolidges, fade over time. It will be interesting to see if the booming economy of the '90s keeps Clintons legacy alive, or if his reputation will diminish.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
