UPDATE: Those of you visiting via Andrew Sullivan and other conservative blogs should know that I think Sullivan is full of crap and that President Clinton is one of the nation’s greatest presidents, I just happen to disagree with him on this.
As one of President Clinton’s strongest supporters and biggest fans, it pains me to point out that what he’s saying here is a load of bull.
During a campaign swing for his wife, former President Bill Clinton said flatly yesterday that he opposed the war in Iraq “from the beginning” — a statement that is more absolute than his comments before the invasion in March 2003.
That’s just not true. I don’t think its right to put President Clinton in the role of war supporter, but if he was against the war only he and Sen. Clinton know for sure because he didn’t say a thing about it. Maybe, as the article goes on, he was silent due to presidential protocol or to not overshadow Sen. Clinton’s vote and subsequent statements, but President Clinton was noticeably silent as the nation went to war in 2003.
You can easily compare his silence to that of his vice-president, Al Gore, who was vocally and clearly opposed to the war from day one. I wondered at the time - and I still do - why President Clinton sat on his hands when he easily would have had a national platform to nullify Bush’s war policy.
There is no public record of any sort to support President Clinton’s assertion that he “opposed Iraq from the beginning”. That just didn’t happen.
Bill Clinton Returns
Much ado about his latest statement in which he says that he opposed the war in Iraq:
During a campaign swing for his wife, former President Bill Clinton said flatly yesterday that he opposed the war in Iraq “from the beginning” — a statement tha…
not quite.
Unfortunately, Bill seems to have tried to play the triangulation game a bit with his stance on Iraq even when he was no longer obligated to appear objective. He opposed the war but also resisted passing judgment on a sitting president. So, in effect, his opposition was all flash and no substance, making his statement technically true, but hardly satisfying. This could burn Hillary as it is not far removed from her explanations for her vote to authorize Bush to use force.
I think Bill has it about right. OW, you’re running Mr. Clinton’s public postitions together with his private opinion.
Did Mr. Clinton “oppose the war from the beginning”? He says so, but we have no way to know. His public positions in real time don’t give us any help. He never said–in public–that he supported or opposed the invasion.
John Edwards has said that he went to Bill Clinton for advice before the vote for war. Edwards now says that he regrets that vote and wishes that he had listened to his own doubts and feelings more. Perhaps that would explain exactly where Clinton stood. It does for me.