I had a memorable experience two years ago, drinking with an Irish anarchist (self-described) in a hotel bar in Kuala Lumpur. He was full of vile invective about America as it is now - and I have to say, I couldn't disagree with him much - but when the name of Bill Clinton came up, he immediately got reverent. He sang the praises of Bill Clinton and how great America was when he was President, and how much the Irish loved him and always would, for, like, EVER. I couldn't get a word in edgewise and after a while I gave up trying.
Why? For all his flaws, Bill Clinton was/is a diplomat. Negotiating peace settlements between camps that have hated each other for 500 years is something he enjoys as much as he enjoys blowjobs, and it shows. He's curious, interested, compassionate, and knowledgeable. He finds other cultures interesting and wants to help in a sincere way. I see a lot of that in Obama - I got that from reading his first book, where he talks about his experiences as a child in Indonesia, and a half-black half-white teenager in Hawaii, and a young man visiting his relatives in Kenya for the first time.
Compare that to the Shrub, who on his first visit to Brazil rode from the airport in a limo with blacked-out windows, and later came out with such gems as "Wow, it's a big country!" and "Oh, do you have blacks here?"
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 04:52 am (UTC)Why? For all his flaws, Bill Clinton was/is a diplomat. Negotiating peace settlements between camps that have hated each other for 500 years is something he enjoys as much as he enjoys blowjobs, and it shows. He's curious, interested, compassionate, and knowledgeable. He finds other cultures interesting and wants to help in a sincere way. I see a lot of that in Obama - I got that from reading his first book, where he talks about his experiences as a child in Indonesia, and a half-black half-white teenager in Hawaii, and a young man visiting his relatives in Kenya for the first time.
Compare that to the Shrub, who on his first visit to Brazil rode from the airport in a limo with blacked-out windows, and later came out with such gems as "Wow, it's a big country!" and "Oh, do you have blacks here?"