Letter to the Editor: Reminder of a Better Time

To the Editor:

Although their coalescence was slow to come about for a number of reasons, the union between President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton reached an apex at the Democratic National Convention, in which keynote speaker Clinton offered a typically rousing "bring the house down," lengthy speech in support of the re-election of the
president.

Few could have imagined at the height of the disgrace that President Clinton brought to himself and our nation that a few years later, he would be seen as one of the most esteemed and honored members of the Democratic Party, an elder statesman whose enthusiastic support would be critical for a Democrat elected to the highest office in the land who is seeking to remain in office for another term.

It is often said that political conventions of this era are nothing more than puffery and foolishness. Although that is largely true, the Clinton speech was something different, something notable and memorable, an event which could sway some of those who are currently
on the fence as the election approaches at a time that the major party candidates are in a virtual dead heat in a bitterly divided nation.

The presence and powerful words of President Clinton serve to remind the American people of a better time, a time in which another Democratic president kept us out of war, perpetuated and enhanced the era of prosperity and low unemployment, and in which the nation was set on a path to balanced budgets. The two presidents that have
succeeded Clinton have taken a wrecking ball to his model, as the nation is now in two devastating wars with additional involvements in other countries in which war could easily ignite, the breadth of the unaffordable entitlement society has exploded, and the economy is in many respects in shambles with historically high unemployment, underemployment, and millions who are earning less than they did years ago.

All of President Clinton's faults seem to have been shifted aside, placed out of mind with the passage of time, and a large number of the American people would surely re-elect him today if they could. If he is able to confer some of his popularity and the high regard in which he is held on the current occupant of the White House, it will be a neat trick, given the many failures of President Obama. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the association of President Obama with President Clinton will provide the boost the incumbent needs to remain our president until Jan. 20, 2017.

Oren Spiegler