A Clinton comeback? Bring it on

In yesterday’s Slate, William Saletan took stock of the Democratic candidates for President at a gathering for EMILY’s list. In the morphing campaign, Saletan took note that Clinton is cool again:

The return of Bill Clinton. Last year, Joe Lieberman was the only prospective presidential candidate willing to praise Clinton by name. Now others are joining in. At this forum, Dick Gephardt credited "the first Clinton budget" for "the best economy we've had in 50 years." Gephardt also spoke of youth programs for which "Bill Clinton and I" worked. But the big surprise came when John Kerry declared, "It was President Clinton and the Democrats who had the courage to expend their political capital" to pass Clinton's economic program. Kerry added, "President Clinton said a month or two ago that the Democrats lost in 2002 because we were voiceless, and we were. … We saw it proven that strong and wrong, as he said, can beat weak and right." Kerry is as calculating as anyone in the race. If he thinks the Clinton stigma is over, the Clinton stigma is over.

Oh really? Maybe the Dems got wind of these latest Presidential poll numbers. More likely, they’re grasping for an edge on the economy issue, and Clinton is the Democrats’ symbol of a healthy bubble…er, economy. But the new effort to embrace Clinton carries political risk, amply displayed in today’s WSJ Opinion Journal, running two articles today reminding everyone why the Clintons were an embarrassment to the nation.

The first is a book review of sorts by Robert Bartley on the “parallel universe of Clinton spinmeister Sidney Blumenthal”; Bartley antiseptically reviews Blumenthal’s omissions and the Clintons’ transgressions. The second is an exhaustive review of Whitewater from the Wall Street Journal’s archives.

George W. Bush ran in 2000 constantly intoning that he would restore dignity and honor to the office of the Presidency. Democrats, on the other hand, appear poised to embrace the Clinton legacy to score some temporary political gain. Let them pay tribute.