The Amazing, Durable Clinton Team

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton is likely to win the South Carolina Primary. Almost a quarter-century ago, her husband did that too. I'm 32 years old- she was First Lady, and he Governor, five years before I was born. He was running for Congress almost a decade before I was born. She was elected to the U.S. Senate while I was in high school. He was elected President when I was in elementary school. In short, they have been politically durable.

They have very few peers. The Kennedys and Bush Family come to mind, but no one else in recent times has had their durability. The Doles were significant, but not on the Clinton level. You can go back to Richard Nixon, who had an amazingly long and durable run on the national level, and FDR too. In both of their cases though, it was one person's career, which is easier to stretch out than two.

We really don't appreciate the problems this creates. You hear a lot of sniping at the Clintons today over things like the Crime Bill or "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," but you never get the context of then vs. now. In 1994, we were coming out of the crack epidemic, and even in our inner cities, in neighborhoods that are largely African-American, the Crime Bill signed by President Clinton would have been more popular then than the position that is emerging in Democratic politics as today's consensus. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is demonized today as anti-LGBT, but in 1993 it was the most progressive LGBT rights position you could have had on the military. You go through a litany of issues, and realize how much politics has changed since Bill Clinton was elected President (forget Governor), and it's fairly amazing that she has remained relevant, given the movement in our politics. We often don't appreciate that. I suppose in the case of Hillary Clinton, it fits who she is though- a pragmatist. She'll push as far as she can. She'll get some things done.

We often don't want to appreciate the passage of time. It brings us closer to mortality. The Clintons have used their time well though. They are the most significant political duo of our time, and they still have some miles in front of them.