Bill Clinton must be smiling.
In the months leading to the election, there was quite a buzz about his efforts to establish a meaningful legacy for himself and his presidency.
For a while, Clinton’s hopes were riding on the man who aimed to succeed him in office, Vice President Al Gore. A Gore victory equaled a third Clinton term and a validation of the Clinton platform that has guided our country for the last eight years.
On the other hand, a victory for Texas Gov. George W. Bush equaled a rejection of the Clinton era and a return to the times of his predecessor, the man he defeated in ’92, George H.W. Bush.
But a funny thing happened on election night: America wouldn’t have either of them. Meanwhile, the other Clinton, Hillary, didn’t just win her Senate bid; she devastated Rick Lazio in the nation’s second most high-profile race.
Now, no matter who takes the White House, Bill Clinton has won. Again. America couldn’t choose a new direction because most of us are pretty happy with the direction we’re going. You can count on this: Whoever becomes the next president will make Bill Clinton look really, really good. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can claim the moral high ground in the final rounds of this election.
Republicans spent the last two weeks scorching Democrats about their desire to re-evaluate thousands of disqualified Florida ballots in four democratic-leaning counties. The news was filled with so many references to “chads,” I started to think the presidential election had turned into an old surfer movie.
The Republicans spoke of dignity and integrity, citing holy proclamations of the “constitutional crisis” sweeping across America. Remember impeachment? Yeah, those guys.
Fast-forward two weeks.
This past weekend, overseas ballots were counted. More than 1,000 of those ballots, mostly from military bases, were tossed out because of irregularities similar to the disqualified ballots in Democratic counties.
The Sunday talk shows were filled with GOP heavyweights, such as Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes, decrying the “disenfranchising of military men who are not having their votes counted.”
Meanwhile, the Democrats couldn’t help but point out that these ballots were not properly filed, and therefore, should not be counted. Sound familiar? Yes, except the talking heads were breathing fire from the opposite mouths just days ago.
This process has nothing to do with right or wrong. It’s all about winning. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, has done our country a disservice by trying to block re-counts just to ensure her candidate a victory. For those of you who don’t know, she was co-chair of Bush’s Florida campaign, along with another Bush, the governor named Jeb. Jeb has actually shown character lacking on both sides by recusing himself from the proceedings. He was always the better Bush, anyway.
On the other side, you have two Democratic legal victories coming from a Florida Supreme Court where Democratic governors appointed all seven justices. Sound suspicious? Well, it should.
The tragedy is that we don’t seem to have any “Wise Men,” as people on Capitol Hill call them, to step in and settle this in a bipartisan fashion. Where are the honorable men and women who can put politics aside and honestly try to figure out who received more votes in Florida?
Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter made such a suggestion, offering his services along with former Republican President Gerald Ford. The response from Joe Lieberman: “An interesting idea. We’ll have to look at it.” Translation: Thanks, but no thanks.
Bill Clinton, we’re going to miss you.