“The Reagan-Bush years,” (Clinton) declared, “have exalted private gain over public obligation, special interests over the common good, wealth and fame over work and family. The 1980s ushered in a Gilded Age of greed and selfishness, of irresponsibility and excess, and of neglect.”
Bill Clinton said that in 1991. Ah, the Clinton Presidency: The Age of Gilded Lillies.
For years, the Clintons have been little more than their own "special interest."
After all, what was their holding on to the presidency during the Monica Lewinsky scandal if not a abject lesson in selfishness, irresponsibility, and excess. No doubt they did it to promote the "common good." Wasn't it great how Bill showed us all how to put "family" above his own selfish pursuits?
Obama deserves the Clintons' (and Krugman's) scorn because he had the indecency to notice that during the 80s, the Republican party led by a resurgent conservatism was the party of ideas while the Dems were moribund, running on little more than their own high self-regard.
You know who was great at talking about the "common good" and "public obligation?" Progressives like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. If only they hadn't gone in for all that ugly racism and genocide, they might have realized a Gilded Age of National Socialism.