Culture Archive

Long before the rivalry between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton I began to be critical of Bill Clinton on issues of integrity, race and gender. He continues to disappoint me. He did it again tonight.

Flipping the channels on boring TV, I caught some of Bill Clinton's appearance on David Letterman. When I came in they were talking about the economy. After awhile I thought to myself, Bill has not really mentioned Barack. Then when Letterman asked who could possibly want to be President at such a terrible time like now, Bill made a joke saying something like, “According to game theory this is the best time because it can only get better.” Then he said, “I enjoyed being President and would not want to do it again, but both John McCain and Barack Obama should relish the opportunity right now.”

I thought to myself. Well that’s the 1^st time I heard him mentioned Barack although I heard him mention Hillary several times. Of course she is his wife. But why did he say McCain 1^st. I got a little perturbed and walked in the kitchen to do some dishes. While in the kitchen I thought, since I did not see the interview from the beginning, perhaps I am being a little harsh and I should stop being judgmental. 

Bill went on to talk a little bit about Sarah Palin and the excitement she brought to the race and how Joe Bidden, he and Hillary are good friends. He said that when Obama announced Bidden as his running mate Hillary said Joe was a good pick. I believe that came up because Letterman asked why Bidden said Hillary would have been a better pick. Bill said that there is nothing to make of the comment. Joe has always been a good ally, helping him during his Presidency and the comment should simply be attributed to friendship. I thought Bill handled that well.

I think the last question asked by Letterman was did Bill think the election would continue to be close? Bill basically said no because it’s tough being a Republican right now with 2/3rds of the nation hurting and worried. He said he thinks it will widen a bit after the debates because Barack will perform well. People will go in the ballot box thinking that they like McCain and respect his service, but they really need to see change, and Barack will win. So by the time the interview was over I decided my thoughts about his lack of mentioning Obama were unfounded. I still thought it was a bit weak, but passable.

Then Chris Rock sat down. He first joked about the high intellectual level of the discussion and how when he talks to Bill he tries to stay away from heavy stuff. He keeps it on topics like basketball and other sports. Then he said something like, “He really did not want to say Obama’s name did? He did everything he could not to say his name. He kept talking about what Hillary would do. Somebody needs to go tell him that Hillary ain’t running. She lost! Hillary lost!

So, either both Chris and I are over sensitive or Bill is still upset. What do you think?

For more see this blog: http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2008/09/chris-rock-on-clinton-on-lette.html

Continue Reading...