Suddenly, Bill Clinton is Mr. Popular
A new poll came out this week and, as you might have already read, Bill Clinton is America's most popular politician.
That's how the findings of the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey are being reported, anyway. In reality, the poll only found that Clinton is more popular than Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Harry Reid, Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi -- the only other politicians who were included in the mix. Still, there's no denying that Clinton's numbers are strong: 55 percent of voters say they have a positive view of him, while only 23 percent see him negatively.
On "Hardball" Tuesday night, Howard Fineman argued that these numbers show that Clinton has supplanted Obama as the leader of the Democratic Party. But that's ridiculous. Clinton's popularity is a result of his not being a day-to-day figure in national politics anymore. Sure, most voters understand that, as Fineman put it, "Bill Clinton oozes politics out of every pore," but because he's not in office, not running for office, and not part of the daily debate in the media, he's largely exempt from the frustration voters are now expressing toward politicians. In this sense, his considerable charm and communication skills -- which were of no use to him when he faced a harsh political climate early in his presidency -- are more valuable than ever....
Read entire article at Salon
That's how the findings of the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey are being reported, anyway. In reality, the poll only found that Clinton is more popular than Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Harry Reid, Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi -- the only other politicians who were included in the mix. Still, there's no denying that Clinton's numbers are strong: 55 percent of voters say they have a positive view of him, while only 23 percent see him negatively.
On "Hardball" Tuesday night, Howard Fineman argued that these numbers show that Clinton has supplanted Obama as the leader of the Democratic Party. But that's ridiculous. Clinton's popularity is a result of his not being a day-to-day figure in national politics anymore. Sure, most voters understand that, as Fineman put it, "Bill Clinton oozes politics out of every pore," but because he's not in office, not running for office, and not part of the daily debate in the media, he's largely exempt from the frustration voters are now expressing toward politicians. In this sense, his considerable charm and communication skills -- which were of no use to him when he faced a harsh political climate early in his presidency -- are more valuable than ever....