"You Don't Owe the Clintons Anything"

At the community Obama Rally in Galveston, Texas on Thursday, Houston City Councilman Ron Green pleaded with Galveston Democrats who might be on the fence, saying words to the effect of "You Don't Owe Bill Clinton Anything."

Although the words of a third-tier surrogate in a fourth-tier city in Texas may not be of much import to Democrats in other parts of a America, it explains the context of a lot of today's exchange between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over mailers.

It's been said here and elsewhere in the blogosphere that Hillary is a de facto incumbent, so much so that I'm not going to bother linking to any particular post. It's self-evident, I think, that today's Democratic Party is largely a product of our eight-year dance with the Clintons in the 1990s.

I was an enthusiastic part of that dance back in 1992. In the fifth grade, I gave a speech in our elementary school presidential debate pitching the Bill Clinton economic agenda. I remember being excited by Bill when he played the sax on Arsenio, and I recall spending an hour or two waiting on the phone so I could vote in the Nickelodeon kid's vote poll (a poll which Bill won handily, if I recall).

But by the time I was in high school, eight years later, I was tired of defending the Clintons. I'm pretty sure the Lord forgives me, but I must admit for a few months I even had a "Bush for President" bumpersticker on my  trapperkeeper. High school for me was mostly fun, but like most people, I think, there were some awkward moments, and that was certainly one of them.

Today, of course, Hillary came along reminding me just how painful my teen years were.

Cutting to the chase -- Hillary is angry because Obama is reminding people that the Clintons got NAFTA passed, and (indirectly, via the Harry and Louise imagery) screwed the pooch on health care (yes, the mailer is about mandates, but the imagery is -- I agree - vaguely reminiscent of the Harry and Louise ads). And the not-so-subtle theme in Hillary's redfaced rant is, that Real Democrats don't go sticking their fingers in these open wounds.

Hillary's not angry about some misplaced quotation marks or some slight exaggeration in wording. The issue, solely, is that Obama is criticizing the Clinton Legacy, and she's taking it personally (or, at least pretending to take it personally).

I return now to what Ron Green said: Do we owe the Clintons? Have they earned the right to be above reproach?

Hillary has told us that her experience as First Lady matters -- indeed, she's emphasized that it matters supremely. And to be sure, a lot of the pain and suffering inflicted on my young Democratic psyche must be blamed on the Republicans, it would be ridiculous, I think, to hold the Clintons blameless.

So I must say that Ron Green is right. Barack Obama doesn't owe us anything other than the truth (and as far as I can tell, the mailers were truthful), and he doesn't owe the Clintons anything.