More of the Clinton Legacy

With Hillary running for President, it's worth taking a look back and remembering exactly what things were like when she and Bill were running the country. In his words, we got "two for the price of one." (And boy what a price!)

When the Chinese successfully tested an anti-satellitle missile last month, destroying an aging weather satellite some 500 miles up, it didn't get as much attention as it deserved. Both our military and our economy have become increasingly satellite dependent. An enemy with the ability to knock out our satellites has incredible leverage...without ever actually firing a shot at us.

And even the small attention their missile test did receive did not usually include notice of the role Bill Clinton played in helping dramatically advance Chinese military techonology. By approving Loral's sale of guidance technology to the Communist government, Bill Clinton reaped huge donations to his Presidential Library...and put our nation at risk. You can find more information about this despicable behavior in the well-known "right wing" publication called the New York Times from back in 1998.

Those who view Hillary as a viable candidate need to think about how she is going to respond when this kind of stuff comes up--not in the general election but in the primary. "I'm not some Tammy Wynette" may have defused the now-admitted allegations of Gennifer Flowers once, but it's not going to cover the multitude of transgressions she's going to have to answer for. She cannot reap the benefits of being Bill's wife and gain credit for his successes without also taking responsibility for the multitude of failures and indiscretions of his administration...and beyond. I expect at least one of her opponents to start raising the question of the Clintons' fundraising connections, picking up on the "Lincoln Bedroom" line from this past week. It's a short step from there to the Buddhist monks (remember "no controlling legal authority" Al Gore?), Johnny Chung, and Loral. And frankly, it's a series of questions she should have to answer. If we had an unbiased press, they would do the job, but that isn't happening. So if her opponents don't ask the question, someone must.

It is quite possible that Hillary will prove to be a hemophiliac candidate--once she gets cut, her campaign may quickly bleed to death. The knives are already starting to come out. Obama and Edwards are not going to passively allow her to determine and dominate the "acceptable" topics of conversation. And it's pretty hard to dismiss them as part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.