Bill Clinton, Superstar

In a rather dull campaign, Bill Clinton’s light shines brightly. During the Democratic convention in North Carolina, his eloquent speech illuminated the debates and conversely countered Barack Obama’s rather dull speech.

From atop his stature as the former President of the United States, Clinton again promises the dream of millions of Americans. For those who remember his catastrophic end during his second term, entangled in a never-ending sex scandal, the nickname of “Comeback Kid” fits him like a glove.

Even though Clinton had a delicate relationship with Obama in 2008, they now have a sacred union. During the preceding campaign, Obama overshadowed Hillary, Clinton’s wife, and prided himself on being the first black president of the United States (as had affirmed the novelist Toni Morrison). For that matter, Obama did not contest this title, recognizing that Clinton had always had an extraordinary reputation with African-Americans as shown in an exchange during the Democratic debate in 2008.

Beyond the connection between Hillary and Obama after the grueling campaign in 2008, his incredible popularity tells us something else about the United States: nostalgia for the 1990s. The decade seemed to be a golden age, prosperous and dynamic, well before September 11, 2001, financial and industrial bankruptcies and the economic crisis. During that period, the country found the time to concern itself with its president’s hijinks over several months.

Even if Clinton’s evident good humor and verve are considerable trump cards for Obama during these two months of scrutiny, the Democrats must not forget the role the “Comeback Kid” played in the current crisis. By following the advice of Alan Greenspan, he converted the Democrats to economic and financial deregulation. Under conservative pressure, in 1996 he even ended up signing an important social security reform that limited coverage for millions of Americans, many of whom are African-Americans. As is often the case, nostalgia is ill-advised.