Post 3: A Different Kind of Man

     Mr. Clinton would learn how the political game was played on Washington very quickly. During his second term, he astutely turned to polling and the public as tools he could use in his own favor. Whereas his first term was defined by an embarrassing willingness to fall into the political landmines Republican presidential hopefuls such as Newt Gingrich set up, in his second term Mr. Clinton was far more precise and careful. Over time he learned to juggle his New Democrat ideals with his politically active wife the Old Democrat Hillary while also fighting the omnipresent Republican opposition. When a government shutdown loomed, he wisely used it to his advantage and put the Republicans into a war of attrition, a war in which they would be constantly chided for being unreasonable. Following up with an ill-advised counter-offer, the New Democrat delivered the finishing blow and won a balanced budget deal that would be remembered by many as his greatest legacy, showing his political savviness. In a series of unfortunate events, he would be forever bludgeoned by a string of attempts to make scandals of his public life, the centerpiece being the infamous Lewinsky Scandal in which Bill Clinton would famously remark "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." The whole event was even given a back story as to how he came to say such a preposterous thing. It was revealed that a close friend told Clinton to be aggressive. The author Joe Klein was accordingly harsh of Clinton and his bad decisions, charging him, like many others, of hurting his legacy forever. Conclusively the novel revealed that through being completely honest and articulate the issue became a non-issue and the Republicans who wanted impeachment were, in an amazing turn of events, questioned as to why they would even consider it. Indeed it appears that was far more dogged in his stance against the Republican elite and thus had a base to fall back to, a move that Mr. Obama curiously did not follow in his first year of office despite conversing with Clinton and undoubtedly knowing his history. Perhaps reality needs to explode in one's face instead of blossom serenely for one to take the message to heart.