Bill Clinton

I liked Clinton. Sue me.

Almost everyone always makes fun of the president, and verbally beats on whoever he is. When we get a new president, we bash him, too. To me, it seems really stupid. We have deadbeats with beer bellies, sitting on their couches at home watching the TV, and criticizing the president for how he runs the country, when they couldn't do half of what he could.

So it wasn't much of a surprise to me when the media had a field day with the whole Clinton scandal. Everyone was repulsed, shocked outraged and horrified at how this man could have sexual relations with that woman who was not his wife, and how he could lie about it and . . . and . . . yeah!

I wasn't.

I sorta took a liking to the guy.

Everyone expects the leader of our country to be perfect. "Dangit, if he's gonna control all our lives (which he doesn't), then he darn well better be perfect" seems to be the general consensus. The average American is not capable of running a country, so yeah, we tend to want someone a bit better than ourselves to run the country. When Clinton made a mistake, everyone pounced on it and crucified him for it. How immoral, how wrong, how evil . . .

How human.

When the entire scandal was nearing an end, I came to a conclusion. I realized that I liked Clinton a lot more now. In a way, he seemed more real to me. Here we had had all these giant figures up there who waved their hands and passed laws and didn't really reach out to everybody that these laws affected. I saw something on MTV, where Bill Clinton sat in a room full of kids and answered questions. I listened, and was amazed at how real this guy was. One kid stood up and asked: "If you could do it again, would you inhale?"

I laughed when I heard that question, and expected the automatic politician's answer in order to save face. Yet, instead of an immediate: "No" and a discouraging look for such a stupid question, Clinton laughed and said very honestly: "Yeah, I would."

I was amazed. Holy crap, I didn't expect him to say that. Wow. That was great. Not because he admitted that he would do drugs, because I hate drugs, but because he actually admitted to it. That's really something. Do you think Bush would say that? Ha.

Later, I saw Clinton pick up the saxophone and play (Really well, too) along with some other music. He was doing this for the kids, and on MTV. That was even cooler. Here was a president who was actually in touch with the kids. Do you think Bush would do that? Ha.

When the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal hit, I first only paid attention to the: "Ooo, that's wrong, that's bad, naughty Bill." Then I thought about it. Yes, it was wrong that he committed adultery with another woman, and yes he was wrong to lie about it, but hey. He was human. What did you expect? A god? Flawless? No way.

Now, I have come to the final; conclusion that if Clinton hadn't lied about doing it, I would have been behind him all the way. Yeah, he's human, but we do want a president that we can believe when he says he didn't do something. I could handle a president that committed adultery, but one that lied . . . I don't know . . .

One last thing about Clinton, though. He got stuff done. Every week or so in news, you'd see something like: "Clinton Visits Third World Country and Shows Natives Miracle of Fire" or "Clinton Delivers Triplets of Minister of Defense's Wife." He was all over the place doing things, right down to the last week or two he was president. Good stuff, too. This is the sort of president I want.

So as we get into a new presidency, who we'll want to be flawless, but then criticize to death, I realize that yeah . . . I'd reelect Clinton.