Politics: Book Learning

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Politics Book Learning If Bill Clinton's so smart, why can't he save the Democrats? By David Weigel Posted Wednesday, Nov 09, 2011, at 04:23 PM ET I remember it like it was yesterday, the night I saw Bill Clinton give progressives bad advice. The former president was onstage at the 2009 Netroots Nation conference. He had an airport-hangar-sized room to win over, and he did—by talking about why health care reform needed to pass. "I'm telling you," said Clinton, "no matter how low they drive support for this with misinformation, the minute the president signs a health care reform bill his approval will go up. Secondly, within a year, when all those bad things they say will happen don't happen, and all the good things happen, approval will explode." This was August 2009. The health care bill passed in March 2010. The president's approval didn't go up; it fell. One year later, his approval didn't explode, and neither did the public's love for health care reform. Clinton kept giving advice, and very often the Democrats ended up taking it, consciously or not. They struggled so manfully to avoid their Clinton-era mistakes, and they lost anyway. The Democrats have lost their majority in the House, but Clinton's still here. He has more advice. Out Tuesday he released Back to Work, a book of policy, punditry, and finger-waggery that Clinton wrestled with because he didn't want to "just add another stone to the Democratic side of the partisan scale." He ends up adding a couple of boulders to the scale, and he adds to one of the micro-mysteries of ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Manjoo: Google+ Is a Disaster, and It's Doomed The Media Claimed Mississippi's Personhood Amendment Would Pass. Here's Why It Didn't. Michael Jackson's Personal Physician Was Convicted in His Death. How Do You Get Your Own Doctor?	Advertisement
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