Bill Clinton Meets Michael Moore

June 23, 2004

Brace yourself. This week‘s news will be saturated with analysis of Bill Clinton‘s memoirs and Michael Moore‘s new movie.
It is disturbing (but not surprising) that boycotts and censorship movements have begun before Clinton and Moore‘s projects have even been released to the public. The reason: of those powerbrokers whose politics are left of center, Clinton and Moore are possibly the two most divisive Americans of this generation. What are the chances of each publishing his most definitive work within a week of each other? The only question now is who will get top billing?
Admit it. Whether you love him or hate him, we all miss Bill Clinton. While in office, no one has ever commanded the attention (often in a negative light) of the media as our 42nd president did. Since leaving office almost 4 years ago, Clinton has kept a relatively low profile... until now.
His admirers yearn for the 1990‘s when the economy was roaring and the rest of the world saw us as a benevolent superpower. On the other hand, Clinton‘s critics still rail against him for everything from the recent recession to the 9/11 attacks. Some NRA meetings have been know to show footage of the burning World Trade Center buildings, titled “The Clinton Legacy.“
As with every former president, Bill Clinton‘s memoirs were surely written in part to influence his place in history. Some say Clinton is obsessed with his legacy as president. 965 pages of “My Life“ ought to be enough reading to get his side of the story out there.
This autobiography is one of the most anxiously awaited books ever written - I know I plan to read it. Having received $10 million advance on the rights to this book and with millions of copies already ordered, Clinton‘s biography had better be good. If not, don‘t bother complaining to us about his memoirs unless you have read every last page.
Viewing Michael Moore‘s movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11“, should be much easier to accomplish. A humorous view of some very serious political topics is Moore‘s forte.
Whether you agree or not with his outlook, viewers rarely leave the theater without having expressed some level of outrage or having been challenged to think.
Expect a deafening cry to censor this movie from those who would prefer to undo the First Amendment rather than allow criticism of our government‘s policies. Ironically, thanks to the free publicity generated by his opponents over the last month, the movie will easily earn back the millions of dollars that Moore received in advance for publishing rights. My advise: don‘t miss this movie.
It is interesting that, as Michael Moore has become more and more notorious, he is now being held up as the Rush Limbaugh of the left. Both have strong, highly publicized political views but that is where the comparison ends.
While Rush backs Republican Party policies 99.99 % of the time, Moore routinely blasts liberals almost as much as conservatives. Moore‘s strident campaigning for Ralph Nader and criticism of Al Gore in 2000, may have given the edge to George W. Bush in the presidential election. His early support for a military man, General Clark, in the 2004 presidential primaries surprised many political pundits.
I have known of Michael Moore since his early activist years in Flint. The only thing predictable about him in the last thirty years is that no matter famous and successful he has become, no one else does a better job of voicing the concerns of the unemployed, the poor, the disenfranchised - in short, the little guys.
How can we censor someone like that? If anything, we should all be required to listen.