"I like Bill Clinton"
About this Quote
The line is disarmingly simple, but loaded with history. Dick Morris, the pollster and strategist who helped engineer Bill Clinton’s centrist turn and 1996 reelection, knew the man at his most tactical and his most personal. He coined and executed triangulation, the method of positioning Clinton between left and right, embracing welfare reform and fiscal restraint while preserving Democratic identity. Then came scandal in 1996 and a dramatic break, followed by years in which Morris fashioned himself as a sharp Clinton critic on television and in books. Against that backdrop, saying I like Bill Clinton becomes both confession and calibration.
It registers the enduring pull of Clinton’s charisma. Few political figures made adversaries feel seen the way he did, and insiders across the spectrum attest to his magnetism and stamina. Morris’s choice of like rather than revere or agree acknowledges a human connection that survives political estrangement. It also serves as a rhetorical preface: an inoculation that frames critique as coming from someone who knows and appreciates the subject, not from a reflexive opponent. In American politics, where personality often eclipses ideology, that distinction matters.
There is also the intimacy of the name. Not President Clinton, but Bill Clinton, the person in the room late at night, reading polls, gaming out compromises, chasing incremental victories. Morris admired the craft even as he later condemned the character. That tension mirrors Clinton’s broader legacy: policy moderation paired with ethical controversy, towering political skill paired with lapses that fueled his detractors. Liking him captures how many Americans felt in the 1990s boom years, even if they did not approve of everything he did.
Ultimately the statement reveals as much about Morris as about Clinton. It justifies past collaboration, softens present attacks, and acknowledges a complex bond forged in shared ambition. The strategist cannot quite quit the star he helped script, and that admission is the point.
It registers the enduring pull of Clinton’s charisma. Few political figures made adversaries feel seen the way he did, and insiders across the spectrum attest to his magnetism and stamina. Morris’s choice of like rather than revere or agree acknowledges a human connection that survives political estrangement. It also serves as a rhetorical preface: an inoculation that frames critique as coming from someone who knows and appreciates the subject, not from a reflexive opponent. In American politics, where personality often eclipses ideology, that distinction matters.
There is also the intimacy of the name. Not President Clinton, but Bill Clinton, the person in the room late at night, reading polls, gaming out compromises, chasing incremental victories. Morris admired the craft even as he later condemned the character. That tension mirrors Clinton’s broader legacy: policy moderation paired with ethical controversy, towering political skill paired with lapses that fueled his detractors. Liking him captures how many Americans felt in the 1990s boom years, even if they did not approve of everything he did.
Ultimately the statement reveals as much about Morris as about Clinton. It justifies past collaboration, softens present attacks, and acknowledges a complex bond forged in shared ambition. The strategist cannot quite quit the star he helped script, and that admission is the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Joy |
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