This is one of the strangest phenomenons that has occurred in American politics the last couple of decades: Bill Clinton’s political invincibility. He’s always been this way. He’s very skilled at running a campaign (the 92 campaign against the elder George Bush was masterful in its mercilessness), and of course he’s always benefited from a friendly news media. The weird thing is that he didn’t really understand what was going on: to hear him tell it, the media has always been unfair to him, picked on him when there was no reason, etc. The whole Lewinsky thing was, as far as his camp is concerned, essentially invented by the media. Certainly there was no reason to ask the question to which he replied with the famous finger-wagging denial. The strange part of this is that now he’s trying the same song, and it’s not playing at all. I’m not sure what the difference is, other than that no one seems to like his wife as much as they like him. Regardless, it’s not playing well in Peoria now, and it’s clear he understands this, but doesn’t know why. I’m not sure anyone else does either. I know I don’t.
