Let Clinton Defend, Redeem and Sell Himself

Re “The Legacy Squad Reports for Duty,” Commentary, Dec. 23:

Ross Baker claims that, other than Bill Clinton, only Andrew Johnson set out to redeem his reputation with such fervor. What about Richard Nixon? Or the machine that elected, covered up for and supported Ronald Reagan? Clinton made a number of serious mistakes during his tenure, primarily of a personal nature, and for those he should be held accountable.

However, bear in mind that rarely has a president been so mindlessly hated, vilified and relentlessly pursued by enemies with a virtually unlimited budget and unencumbered scope of power. (Have we already forgotten Ken Starr?)

Clinton was the first Democratic candidate since Roosevelt to be elected to consecutive terms, and those on the right despise him for it. With their PR machine (now funded by a stolen federal election, 10-year tax rebates for bloated corporations and a reprehensible energy policy that was coordinated in secret by Dick Cheney and the folks who brought you Enron), I don’t blame Clinton for trying to defend himself. Neither should Baker or anyone else who is a true student of history.

Harry Shannon

Studio City

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Baker may be a distinguished professor of political science, but he needs to brush up on his history. Nixon worked unrelentingly to redeem his place in history after he was forced to resign from office. He convened those closest to him time and again to seek to restore his reputation.

Incidentally, so has former President Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most impressive of our former presidents in the 20th century, who has redeemed his personal reputation if not that of his presidency by what he has achieved in the years since he left office. Herbert Hoover also sought to redeem his presidency by his service as a former president.

Michael Berenbaum

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Los Angeles

Baker gives Clinton an unsolicited prescription to “let history be the judge.” Is not Baker being un-American? Is not Madison Avenue the American way? Clinton is a true American, doing his thing by selling himself.

Jim Hood

Camarillo