Dear Bill Clinton,
You were my favorite. Maybe you still are. I hailed you as the greatest president of all time. I didn't go so far as a lot of folks did in declaring you the county's first "black" president, but you were damn close. That's why I'm hurt that you have become so vicious, so "un-sportsmanlike" in your demeanor in recent days. You appear rattled. Why the venom?
I know it must be frustrating to see the love we have given you and your wife for so many years being shared with the likes of another. And much like a scorned lover, you return with insults and innuendo. You had to realize that the new guy on campus always gets the attention. But instead of handling it like the true "G" I thought you were, you let yourself lash out emotionally. I understand, though. People are attacking your wife. Any man would do what you've done, especially with the White House at stake.
You're shrewd, and that's one of the reasons I liked you in the first place. It takes an eloquent man to juggle that many women and be president at the same time. You occupied the highest-profile job on the planet. Granted, it's much harder than just telling your wife, "I'm working late." Hell, you were the president; your every move was watched. We bow at your skill.
The Clinton machine is a juggernaut. I marveled at how you recovered in New Hampshire—the new age "trail of tears." I watched as the polls began to turn in Barack Obama's favor, how you described his movement as a "fairy tale." I was in awe of how you sauntered through casinos in Nevada, eavesdropping on conversations that the Bionic Woman couldn't have heard. Yet, there you were, spinning yarns of voter intimidation. You've obviously been to this big dance before. It shows.
However, it appears you have run into a force that doesn't waiver in the face of normal campaign rhetoric. As a man whose celebrity has hinged on his uncanny connection with African Americans, it's sad to see you stoop to these tactics. It stinks of desperation. It will certainly lead to division, and division, as we have seen, will sound the death-knell for Democrats in November.
Bill, I'm disappointed. I expect so much more of you. I thought maybe after Sen. James Clyburn, D-S.C., asked you to "chill," you would have considered. Even before that, Ted Kennedy reached out and asked you to perhaps tone down the comments. Instead, you continue to make gentle swipes that aren't lost on the intelligent voter. Give "me" a break. Saying the media is stirring up the "race" talk when it was you and the Clinton campaign who initiated it in the first place?
I can respect gamesmanship. Obama is going to have to get ready to rumble. But then you returned with the kicker. Out of nowhere, you pulled the "Well ... Jesse Jackson won South Carolina, twice" card out of your deck. Instead of congratulating the player as a true player would do, you attempted to belittle not just Obama's win, but the significance of the black vote. Brutus? It's not enough to listen to Pat Buchanan almost nullify South Carolina's primary on Fox News. That's expected. It's not enough to simply acknowledge a formidable opponent and grind it out in the spirit of competition. You could have let us decide based on the issues. You see, Obama doesn't come from the same school of campaigning, the tainted one in Washington, D.C., that says you win by digging up dirt on your opponent and burying him under it.
But Bill, if these chickens that you've hatched come home to roost this November, you may have cost Hillary, Obama or any other Democrat, for that matter, a chance at the White House. That is the tragedy of it all.
And that's the truth … sho-nuff.
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