"For instance, Clinton who was unquestionably the smartest of the bunch I talked to - both the ones who made it and didn't. He had a great interest in policy"
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Scheer’s compliment lands with a journalist’s telltale mix of candor and positioning: he isn’t just praising Bill Clinton, he’s benchmarking him against an entire ecosystem of political aspirants he’s interviewed, “both the ones who made it and didn’t.” That clause does quiet work. It frames Scheer as someone with wide access and long memory, and it implies a sorting mechanism more diagnostic than partisan: most contenders, in his experience, are not this sharp.
“Unquestionably the smartest” is deliberately absolutist, but it’s not starry-eyed. The follow-up - “He had a great interest in policy” - narrows the compliment to a specific, almost clinical domain. Scheer is distinguishing intellect from charisma, and policy interest from performative messaging. In the age of personality-driven campaigns, that’s a loaded distinction: it suggests Clinton’s appeal wasn’t just that he could win a room, but that he could inhabit the boring machinery of governance.
The subtext, though, is thornier. Calling Clinton the smartest can read as both defense and indictment. Defense, because it argues that whatever his moral or political failings, he wasn’t a lightweight. Indictment, because “smartest” can carry an edge in American politics: too calculating, too technocratic, too adept at rationalizing compromises. Scheer’s phrasing leaves space for that ambivalence. The context is a media veteran explaining why Clinton rose: not merely ambition, but an almost consuming curiosity about how power translates into policy - and how policy becomes a way to justify power.
“Unquestionably the smartest” is deliberately absolutist, but it’s not starry-eyed. The follow-up - “He had a great interest in policy” - narrows the compliment to a specific, almost clinical domain. Scheer is distinguishing intellect from charisma, and policy interest from performative messaging. In the age of personality-driven campaigns, that’s a loaded distinction: it suggests Clinton’s appeal wasn’t just that he could win a room, but that he could inhabit the boring machinery of governance.
The subtext, though, is thornier. Calling Clinton the smartest can read as both defense and indictment. Defense, because it argues that whatever his moral or political failings, he wasn’t a lightweight. Indictment, because “smartest” can carry an edge in American politics: too calculating, too technocratic, too adept at rationalizing compromises. Scheer’s phrasing leaves space for that ambivalence. The context is a media veteran explaining why Clinton rose: not merely ambition, but an almost consuming curiosity about how power translates into policy - and how policy becomes a way to justify power.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
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