Bill Clinton : Beginning Of the Road

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The constitution was finally amended to give Clinton a four-year term in 1986 (just when shorter term limits were gaining support elsewhere). At a time of pinched resources, Clinton has had experience of working within a financial straitjacket, setting priorities, concentrating on the essential tasks. The whole nation is in the grips of an antigovernment mood that he has dealt with in what was, until recently, the capital of opposition to government.

On the other hand, Clinton is a quintessential politician when the very name has become a swear word. He is a man who builds compromises and is accused of being slick. He tries to please, omnidirectionally, and is accused of pandering. I ask if he ever considered being anything but a politician. Yes, he answers, a doctor, because he saw his mother and her fellow nurses deferring to them. Then a musician. At Oxford, when he thought his opposition to the Vietnam War would preclude a political career in the patriotic South, he seriously considered becoming a journalist. "I would at least comment on the great events of my time." Why had he rejected those careers? "I would not have been great at them. I would have been a very good musician, but not a great one." Does that mean he thinks he's a great politician? He answers, matter-of-factly, "Yes." Why? "I like people, and like to help them. I can get them together, organize them, help them reach their goals." It is, I suppose, one definition of politics.