Boris and Bill

In today's New York Times, Bill Clinton writes a love letter to his friend Boris Yeltsin.

Bill writes:

Boris Yeltsin was intelligent, passionate, emotional, strong-willed and courageous. He wasn’t perfect, and he had to contend with staggering political and economic challenges as he led Russia away from centuries of authoritarian rule. But lead he did. At the end of the cold war, Russia and the world were lucky to have him.

History will be kind to my friend Boris.

Yeltsin died on April 23.

I wonder why it took Bill so long to formally euologize his good buddy.

It could be that he wanted his op-ed piece to be in the Sunday New York Times. Any other day of the week wouldn't be worthy of the former president.

Another possibility is that Hillary made him do it, to make Americans feel all warm and fuzzy about those wonderful Clinton years.


The Way We Were

I think it's possible that Bill wrote the column as a rewrite of history. He wants us to think of Yeltsin's time in office as an especially rosy time.

Yes, so much good can be associated with the Clinton era, including his friendship with Yeltsin.

Therefore, vote for Hillary.

Too much of a leap?

You were expecting a lib like Bill to be logical?

Bill says, "But at the end of the day, he almost always did the right thing."

Hmmm. Not everyone agrees with Bill.

His assessment of Yeltsin's role in history is interesting. It's much kinder than what The Washington Post offered on April 24, a day after Yeltsin's death.

From The Post:

Mr. Yeltsin ended up destroying much of what he had achieved. In 1993 he ordered the army to attack the same parliament building he had defended; though the political reactionaries inside were the first to take up arms, Mr. Yeltsin's response was brutal. Even more so was his invasion the next year of Chechnya, which, while failing to crush an independence movement, destroyed the republic, killed tens of thousands and set the stage for an even bloodier war by Mr. Putin. In 1996, Mr. Yeltsin won a second free election for president, but only after striking a corrupt deal with a group of businessmen who financed his campaign in exchange for being allowed to take control of some of Russia's biggest companies. Often ill or seemingly drunk, he allowed corruption and disorder to flourish in and outside of government and embarrassed Russians with his pratfalls.

Mr. Yeltsin's final sin was to hand the presidency in December 1999 to Mr. Putin, a product of the same KGB that had attempted the coup of 1991.

Bill didn't mention any of that.

I guess he's just a "glass is half full rather than half empty" kind of guy.

His column about Yeltsin is typical Clinton spin, a reinvention of the truth.

I certainly wouldn't expect Bill, friend of Boris, to speak ill of him and highlight his mistakes and his flaws so soon after his death. Perhaps it would have been best for Bill to just keep quiet instead of giving a false impression.

It's almost as if Bill's was writing about Yeltsin the way he hopes others will write about him someday.

"History will be kind to my friend Boris."

I bet Bill fantasizes that history will be kind to him. I'm sure he fantasizes about lots of things.