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Last Updated: Jul 10, 2008 - 12:32:05 PM |
As a college English professor, I usually pick up a literature course or two each term. One of the concepts I teach my students on the first day of these classes is that of “irony.”
Irony is a fun concept – not nearly as boring as such literary terms as plot, theme, and setting. Something is ironic when either what is said or done is directly opposite of what is expected. An example of irony might be when a police station is robbed or a fire station burns down.
A much better example of irony would be the last couple years of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
You may remember that as Clinton’s presidency came to a close, all of the news outlets began talking about his “legacy.” The reason that the president’s legacy was all over the news was apparently because it was very much on the mind of the president himself. Clinton didn’t want to be just another president – a relative footnote of American history such as James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin Pierce.
Clinton understood an important truth about U.S. presidents: it isn’t enough to win the office, or even to win it twice. One needs to leave a legacy – something great by which to be remembered.
For example, George Washington won the Revolutionary War and then, after being unanimously elected president, served two terms and willingly handed power to John Adams rather than become a tyrannical dictator. Thomas Jefferson (in addition to writing the Declaration of Independence) made the Louisiana Purchase. Abraham Lincoln saved the union.
Franklin Roosevelt instituted the New Deal and largely won World War II, and Ronald Reagan won the Cold War and revitalized the American economy. (Note: after Clinton left office, George W. Bush dealt with 9/11, thus solidifying HIS legacy.)
As the end of his presidency neared, Clinton desperately searched for his legacy. The problem was, thanks to Reagan and George H. W. Bush, there were no major military threats and the nation was on a sound financial footing. What was a president in search of a legacy to do?
Enter the concept of irony in the person of Monica Lewinsky. Clinton got his legacy by having sexual relations with an intern, lying about it under oath, and being one of only two U.S. presidents to be impeached by the House of Representatives. It wasn’t the legacy he wanted, of course, but that’s the beauty of irony.
But the story doesn’t end there. Clinton is still a relatively young man, and has already spent the past eight years trying to remake his legacy. He gives speeches around the world discussing the successes of his presidency; he involves himself in such humanitarian issues as raising money for the victims of natural disasters. And he bashes the current president whenever possible.
And Clinton sees one last, great chance to save his place in history: the presidency of his wife. If he could get back in the White House, he would be back directly in the public’s eye again, and he might be able to change his legacy and create a new, positive view of his original presidency.
Right now one major roadblock stands in his way: Barack Obama. For a time it appeared that Mrs. Clinton would easily sweep the Democratic primaries, but the tide seems to be changing. Obama won the Iowa caucuses, the South Carolina primary, and split the Nevada primary with Mrs. Clinton – and his popularity is growing.
Recent poll numbers show that Obama, once down 20 points in California, has now pulled into a statistical tie with the former first lady, and polls nationwide show the same changes. Such influential individuals and organizations as MoveOn.org and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy have endorsed Obama for president.
This must be driving Bill Clinton absolutely nuts. How else does one explain his inexplicably un-presidential behavior in the days leading up to the South Carolina primary, when he said (among other things) that Obama would probably win the primary because he is black?
In fact, it seems as though the more Bill Clinton – the great campaigner, the great political mind – campaigns for his wife, the worse she does and the better Obama does. Come to think of it, there’s a fair amount of irony in that as well.
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