February 16, 2010, Academic Rising Starr
Former federal judge, solicitor general, law school dean and Clinton partisan hack tormentor "indepedent counsel" Kenneth Starr will assume the presidency of Baylor University, a Baptist university based in Waco, Texas. My immediate reaction was "how wonderfully convenient to the George W. Bush Presidential Library"... but a moment's thought and I realized that's Baylor's athletic rival, SMU, over in Fort Worth.
Starr had been dean at Pepperdine Univ.'s law school in Malibu, CA; to give up that there must be some bucks involved... but I have no doubt that the money's good. For the Ken Starrs of the world... the money's always good.
Compared to his successor generation of Republican legal whores hired guns partisan hacks government lawyers, who managed to "legally" justify the legal basis for torture and mass murder, Starr's prudish prurience seems "quaint," and I confess that at the time, years of Bill Clinton's arrogance-- incessantly taking credit for having inherited the presidency at the fortunate confluence of (1) not being George H.W. Bush, (2) the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, and most importantly, (3) the flood of Japanese money into our economy that created the internet bubble and made economic numbers look really good, all while NOT (1) raising the minimum wage, (2) holding Democratic Congressional majorities, (3) passing health care reform or (4) advancing progressive policies or goals any more than either George H.W. Bush or Bob Dole would have-- made me not unsympathetic to what Starr was doing (and let's face it: had Al Gore become President that way, he would have been reelected, and "things would be different.") I guess I just had less of a problem with Starr's undermining of the republic then... than I do now. That's what nine years of the worst leadership this country has ever seen (and I include the last year in that) will do.
Since I've decided that being honest is better than being consistent, I will say that, much as I despised the fact that "Clinton's party" of a boom economy benefited the select, fortunate few while most remained mired where they were (in stark contrast to, of all things, the Reagan economy, where all boats rose, not just the yachts)... Clinton, at least, with all his DLC bullsh*t, had some brass. I never quite knew what exactly he stood for, but at least he had the good fortune (again!) of having in Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott and all... something to stand against. No "let's reach across the aisle and improve the tone of Washington" garbage for Clinton...to his undying credit, he had no problem standing for partisan warfare, even if, alas, much did not get done.
Anyway, as so many Dems (like Evan "why have an actual Republican when you can have me?" Bayh) do what's good for themselves (what else is new) and head for the exits, and, like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama stands at the cusp of having blown big Congressional majorities (though in Obama's case, for no good reason whatseover), it's not a bad time to look back at Kenneth Starr (interesting, the same age as Bill Clinton) and just say... "best of luck at Baylor, Ken." Somehow, Ken, like the Big Dog himself, you always seem to land on your feet... as for the rest of us...