Life & Wisdom Quote by Mark Russell

A grin disguised as an endorsement, Mark Russell turns a presidential second term into a private annuity. The ellipsis is the punchline’s trapdoor: you’re invited to hear “good for business” as civic-minded, then dropped into the far less noble reality that politics is often evaluated by who gets paid to talk about it. Russell isn’t really praising Bill Clinton so much as admitting, with showman candor, that a scandal-soaked administration is a renewable resource for a political humorist.

The intent is twofold. First, it punctures the American habit of dressing self-interest in the language of the common good. “Good for business” is the most respectable phrase in the national vocabulary; Russell yanks it back to its original meaning: good for me. Second, it reframes the Clinton era as a kind of content economy before we had a word for it. The 1990s weren’t just policy and prosperity; they were impeachment theater, cable-news adrenaline, late-night monologues, and a public addicted to the next twist. For a satirist, that’s job security.

Subtext: the real industry around Washington isn’t governance, it’s commentary. Russell, a veteran of piano-bench political comedy, makes himself the stand-in for everyone who profits from the endless campaign, the permanent outrage, the monetized spectacle. It’s cynical, but it’s also oddly honest: if politics is going to be entertainment, the entertainers will root for a long run.