The Comeback Id.

Bill Clinton has always been an impulsive man who is quick to anger and kept questionable company. But he’s managed to skate by and avoid any real consequences for his considerable shortcomings because he’s always been charismatic and really, really good at what he does.

So, of course, Todd Purdum’s much-anticipated profile of Bill Clinton in this month’s Vanity Fair was destined to become a big damn deal. Purdum basically asserts that the new, post-presidency, post-major surgery Bill Clinton is older, less focused, and his towering political acumen substantially less sharp. (Um, yeah.) Purdum also suggests that Clinton was also at the height of his political powers at a time when the media landscape was quite different and his every indignant eruption wasn’t going to end up on YouTube. That decline in skill makes it more difficult to camouflage the same penchant for shady associations, his humongous ego and almost pathological inclination to take liberties with the truth. Couple all that with the man being wealthy for the first time in his life, and what you have ladies and gentleman, is a character straight out of Shakespeare.

Bill Clinton’s camp has already countered with an Illiad-length response to Purdum’s piece, calling Vanity Fair disreputable and bringing up the fact that Purdum’s wife is Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s first press secretary (which is a fact Purdum discloses early in the profile, adding that she was not a source). I’m not sure what the Myers thing was supposed to prove, but Clinton’s little snit shows no signs of abating.

The Clinton response is telling in that it basically tries to discredit Purdum and point to Clinton’s spectaculosity without actually refuting anything the article (sort-of) brings up. It’s basically why are you knocking a man who’s trying to save the world, haters????? This why-is-everyone-picking-on-us stuff is old hat for the Clintons.

It’s also never been very convincing.

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.