16 Years!

It was sixteen years ago that Bill Clinton was running for President. His run had received its boost from a speech he gave four years earlier in 1988 at the National Democratic Convention. That was the first time he received broad national recognition.

He was young, embodied a sense of change and promise for the country and was a counterpoint to the established order that didn’t seem to know what the people were thinking or feeling. The established order didn’t understand barcodes at the check-out counter and didn’t get the fact that, “it was the economy, stupid.”

Now 16 years later, we have another young man of promise, who gave a great speech at the convention four years ago, running for the Presidency. The impact of those 16 years is made dramatically evident when I see the architect of the “economy stupid” phrase, James Carville, featured in a seven page spread in that glossy publication for architects and the fashionista, Architectural Digest. How far they have come.

In the context of the Carville Architectural Digest spread, Hillary’s $5M campaign loan seems quite normal. Carville could have probably loaned a few million himself if he could or felt so inclined. Maybe he could have contributed his Coca-Cola fee and other endorsement fees.

So, 16 years makes a lot of difference. I think the Clintonistas would have us believe that it really doesn’t. They are the same caring, committed people they have always been. The 16 years have just given them experience they would argue. But, they are different. 16 years different.

Somehow, it looks like 16 years at the trough. You can’t opine on the “economy stupid” from your lounge chair covered with Jack Lenore Larson fabric in the centerfold of Architectural Digest.