Man, Do I Miss Him

Bill Clinton made the rounds of the Sunday shows this week. A strange consequence of the twin tragedies of the Asian Tsunami and of Hurricane Katrina has been an increased presence for formed President Clinton in the media.

This weekend I guess he was supposed to be talking about fund raising for Katrina rebuilding, but somehow he wound up talking about other things. Moreso than what he was saying, I found myself marveling at how he was saying it. He made statements with real content and actual information. Not once did he fall back on a slogan. He never said anything was hard work, or that we need to stay the course, or that when the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.

Or rather, he did say all of these things, but he said them in a way that made me think he thought I might actually understand things if they were explained. He didn't talk to me like I was stupid. On point after point he forwarded argument with real structure, logic, and foundation.

I'd almost forgotten what that sounds like.

"We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover [Bush's] tax cut and these conflicts and Katrina," Clinton says. "I don't think it makes any sense. I think it's wrong."

Never once did he call anyone a neo-con, or refer to the right. Just talked about things plainly, explained what he was saying and why he thought it was important and the right thing to do. Somehow he managed to talk about tax cuts and spending priorities, the war in Iraq, and the great importance of victory in Afghanistan without resorting to any partisan name calling.

He talked about how there can be tax cuts and still not hurt 99% of Americans. He talked about how you can oppose the reason we went to war in Iraq, how you can oppose the administration without opposing the effort, the troops, or the Iraqis. He talked about Afghanistan in a way I haven't heard it discussed since we began the invasion.

It was so refreshing to hear someone sound presidential. No giggling, smirking, downtalking, jingoistic, politico - presidential, like a public figure and a leader of a nation - nothing like an overgrown fraternity brother who is now the CEO.

I wish there was someone on the horizon of the Democratic Party who is still eligible for the Presidency that could sound like this. A man can dream, right?

There's a video of This Week here, and a transcript of the session here. Check it out.