Clintonism

is a political style that, because it focused on day-to-day victories, carried enormous long-term costs in the shape of a lack of trust and respect.

Most of all, Clinton's political style, focused as it was on day-to-day victories, carried enormous long-term costs that he seemed to little comprehend. Clinton never engendered the trust and respect of the majority in the ways that the most successful presidents do (ABC News/ Washington Post poll 1999). This failure prevented him from commanding a popular majority in his two presidential elections and, more importantly, limited his effective range of influence in national debate on issues that hinged on questions of values or personal responsibility. There were many reasons fo the blot on Clinton's popular staning. But in the age of great popular skepticism of politicians, Clinton's often-deserved reputation for calculation, glibness, and equivocation is an important one. 'Slick Willie' was the name an unadmiring Arkansas editorialist tagged Clinton with in the early 1980s, and nearly two decades later, he continued to protest the accusation, though even many people once among his closes aids have essentially endorsed similar interpretations (Reich 1997... Stephanopoulos 1999).

Steven E. SchierThinkers

Steven E. Schier