The Left Changes Its Mind on Bill Clinton It isn’t clear what is causing Democrats to re-evaluate their support for the former president. by Jason Riley
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-left-changes-its-mind-on-bill-clinton-1511306924
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday became the latest liberal luminary to scurry away from Bill Clinton some 20 years too late.
“If it happened today there would have been a very different reaction,” said the mayor in reference to the White House sex scandal involving Mr. Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. “I don’t think you can rework history. I think if it happened today—if any president did that today—they would have to resign.”
The mayor’s comments follow those made last week by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who told the New York Times that she, too, now believes that Mr. Clinton should have resigned after his affair with Ms. Lewinsky was revealed. The senator used the “things have changed” explanation as well, then added that “in light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump, and a very different conversation about allegations against him.”
Put differently, Ms. Gillibrand wants Donald Trump held to a different standard than the one she and her fellow Democrats were willing to hold Bill Clinton to way, way back in the 1990s. Have the liberal politicians and journalists now changing their tune about Mr. Clinton grown a conscience, or do they merely want another pretext for attacking the current White House occupant? The political left had a teachable moment two decades ago and didn’t learn anything from it.
To be fair, some Democratic partisans know rank political opportunism when they see it and aren’t afraid to say so. “Senate voted to keep POTUS WJC,” tweeted Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state. “But not enough for you @SenGillibrand? Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite.” Much the same could be said about Mr. de Blasio, who served in the Clinton administration and managed Mrs. Clinton’s successful Senate run in 2000.
Besides the party affiliation of the current president, it isn’t clear what precisely has changed in the minds of people who want to re-evaluate their support for Mr. Clinton. Back in the 1990s, was it OK for a president to be fooling around with an intern? Was it OK for Mrs. Clinton to smear her husband’s accusers in an effort to cover up his serial tomcatting?
As far as Mrs. Clinton is concerned, nothing has changed. Asked about the current spate of sexual harassment charges against politicians, she defended her husband—“it was investigated fully, it was addressed at the time, he was held accountable”—along with Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, while slamming Mr. Trump and Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama. “Look at the contrast between Al Franken, accepting responsibility, apologizing, and Roy Moore and Donald Trump, who have done neither.” CONTINUE AT SITE
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