Public image of Bill Clinton

Clinton's job approval rating ranged from 36% in mid-1993 to 64% in late 1993 and early 1994.{{cite web |url=http://webapps.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating_detail.cfm?allRate=True&presidentName=Clinton |title=Job Performance Ratings for President Clinton |access-date=August 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023010425/http://webapps.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating_detail.cfm?allRate=True&presidentName=Clinton |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}} In his second term, his rating consistently ranged from the high-50s to the high-60s.[http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm Bill Clinton: Job Ratings] - PollingReport.com After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point at 73% approval.[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/20/impeachment.poll/ Poll: Clinton's approval rating up in wake of impeachment] - CNN, December 20, 1998 He finished with a Gallup poll approval rating of 65%,{{cite web |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/2125/clinton-leaves-office-mixed-public-reaction.aspx |title=Clinton Leaves Office With Mixed Public Reaction

|work=Gallup Polling |date=January 12, 2001 |access-date=May 28, 2015}} higher than that of every other departing president measured since Harry Truman.{{cite web

|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/113770/Bush%2DPresidency%2DCloses%2D34%2DApproval%2D61%2DDisapproval.aspx

|title=Bush Presidency Closes With 34% Approval, 61% Disapproval

|work=Gallup Polling

|date=January 14, 2009

|access-date=August 23, 2012

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119053947/http://www.gallup.com/poll/113770/Bush-Presidency-Closes-34-Approval-61-Disapproval.aspx

|archive-date=January 19, 2009

}}

As he was leaving office, a CNN/USA TODAY/Gallup poll revealed 45% said they'd miss him. While 55% thought he "would have something worthwhile to contribute and should remain active in public life", 68% thought he'd be remembered for his "involvement in personal scandal", and 58% answered "No" to the question, "Do you generally think Bill Clinton is honest and trustworthy?". 47% of the respondents identified themselves as being Clinton supporters. 47% said he would be remembered as either "outstanding" or "above average" as a president while 22% said he would be remembered as "below average" or "poor".[http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/10/cnn.poll.clinton/ Poll: Majority of Americans glad Clinton is leaving office] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010204521/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/10/cnn.poll.clinton/ |date=October 10, 2009 }} - Keating Holland, CNN, January 10, 2001

The Gallup Organization published a poll in February 2007 asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Clinton came in fourth place, capturing 13% of the vote. In a 2006 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll asking respondents to name the best president since World War II, Clinton ranked 3% behind Ronald Reagan to place second with 25% of the vote. However, in the same poll, when respondents were asked to name the worst president since World War II, Clinton placed 1% behind Richard Nixon and 18% behind George W. Bush to come in third with 16% of the vote.{{cite web |url=http://www.pollingreport.com/wh-hstry.htm |title=Presidents and History |publisher=pollingreport.com |access-date=June 25, 2007 }}

In May 2006, a CNN poll comparing Clinton's job performance with that of his successor, George W. Bush, found that a strong majority of respondents said Clinton outperformed Bush in six different areas questioned.[http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/12/bush.clinton.poll/index.html Poll: Clinton outperformed Bush] - CNN ABC News characterized public consensus on Clinton as, "You can't trust him, he's got weak morals and ethics{{spaced ndash}}and he's done a heck of a good job."[https://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/poll_clintonlegacy010117.html Poll: Clinton Legacy Mixed], ABC News, January 17, 2001. Clinton's 65% Gallup Poll approval rating was also the highest Gallup approval rating of any postwar President leaving office, one point ahead of Reagan.{{cite web |url=http://uspolitics.about.com/od/polls/l/bl_historical_approval.htm |title=Historical Presidential Approval Ratings - End Of Term Plus Current Ratings |publisher=Uspolitics.about.com |access-date=November 9, 2008}}

File:ClintonChild.jpg, September 1998.]]

Clinton was the first president born after World War II. Authors Martin Walker and Bob Woodward state Clinton's innovative use of soundbite-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning was responsible for his high public approval ratings.Martin Walker, Clinton: the President they deserve, Fourth Estate 1999Bob Woodward, The choice: how Clinton won, Touchstone 1996, {{ISBN|0-684-81308-4}} When Clinton played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show, Clinton was sometimes described by religious conservatives as "the MTV president".{{cite news |last=Bresler |first=Robert J. |title=The Muddled Meaning of the 2000 Election |newspaper=USA Today |date=January 2001 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2668_129/ai_69698398 |access-date=January 2, 2007 |archive-date=February 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206194943/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2668_129/ai_69698398 |url-status=dead }} Since 2000, he has frequently been referred to as "The Big Dog" or "Big Dog".{{cite news |author=Dowd, Maureen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/22/opinion/liberties-dare-speak-his-name.html |title=Liberties; Dare Speak His Name |work=The New York Times |date=October 22, 2000 |access-date=August 23, 2012 |quote="They're going to have to let the big dog run."}}{{cite news |author=Rutenberg, Jim |author2=Zernike, Kate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21clinton.html |title=Bill Clinton Stumps for Obama |work=The New York Times |date=September 20, 2010 |access-date=August 23, 2012 |quote=The Big Dog, as he is known among those in the tight world of Clinton associates ...}} His prominent role in campaigning for President Obama during the 2012 presidential election and his widely publicised speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, where he officially nominated Obama and criticised Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Republican policies in detail, earned him the nickname "Explainer-in-Chief".{{cite news |author=McDuffee, Allen |date=September 6, 2012 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/bill-clintons-dnc-speech-as-explainer-in-chief-it-takes-some-brass-and-more-am-briefing/2012/09/06/088a467a-f821-11e1-8b93-c4f4ab1c8d13_blog.html |title=Bill Clinton's DNC speech as 'explainer in chief,' 'it takes some brass,' and more [AM Briefing] |work=The Washington Post |access-date=January 25, 2013}}{{cite news |author=Poniewozik, James |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/06/the-morning-after-obama-turns-to-bill-clinton-explainer-in-chief/ |title=The Morning After: Obama Turns to Bill Clinton, Explainer-in-Chief |work=Time |date=September 6, 2012 |access-date=January 25, 2013}} Other nicknames include "Slick Willie",{{cite news |last=Cornwell |first=Rupert |title='Slick Willie': Clinton's untold story Recordings shed new light on the Lewinsky scandal, Boris Yeltsin's antics and Al Gore's failed presidency bid |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/slick-willie-clintons-untold-story-1791711.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=September 23, 2009 |access-date=February 28, 2012}} "The Comeback Kid",{{cite news |author=Julian Borger |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uselections2004/story/0,,1336035,00.html |title=Thinner and frailer, the Comeback Kid puts heart into Kerry's campaign |newspaper=The Guardian |date=October 26, 2004 |location=London |access-date=April 29, 2007}} "Bubba", and "The First Black President".{{cite magazine |url=http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/clinton/morrison.html |title=Clinton as the First Black President |magazine=The New Yorker |first=Toni |last=Morrison |date=October 5, 1998}} Clinton, a Baptist,Amy Sullivan, The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap (Simon & Schuster: 2008), p. 101. has been open about his faith.Sullivan, The Party Faithful, p. 9.

File:President Bill Clinton plays the saxophone with jazz musicians.jpg

Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and made improving race relations a major theme of his presidency.[http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=122950 A Conversation With President Bill Clinton on Race in America Today] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716185827/http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=122950 |date=July 16, 2012 }} - interview with Clinton, Center for American Progress, July 16, 2004. {{anchor|ToniMorrison}} In 1998, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison in The New Yorker called Clinton "the first Black president", saying, "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas," and comparing Clinton's sex life, scrutinized despite his career accomplishments, to the stereotyping and double standards that blacks typically endure.{{cite magazine |last=Morrison |first=Toni |author-link=Toni Morrison |title=Clinton as the first black president |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 1998 |url=http://ontology.buffalo.edu./smith/clinton/morrison.html |access-date=December 1, 2006 }}

In 2008, Morrison's sentiments were raised anew as Barack Obama, who would later become the country's first African-American president, ran for the presidency. After endorsing Obama, Morrison distanced herself from her 1998 remark about Clinton, saying that it was misunderstood. She alleged that she has "no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race" and claimed she was only describing the way he was being treated during the impeachment trial as an equivalent to a poor black person living in the ghetto.Sachs, Andrea. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509001557/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1738303,00.html "10 questions for Tony Morrison"], Time, May 7, 2008. Accessed May 8, 2008. Obama himself, when asked in a Democratic debate about Morrison's declaration of Clinton as "black", replied that Clinton had an enormous "affinity" with the black community, but joked he would need to see Clinton's dancing ability before judging him to be black.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/us/politics/21demdebate-transcript.html|title=The Democratic Debate in South Carolina |date=January 21, 2008 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=August 23, 2012}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuQgWtRIoNQ Asking Barack Obama If Bill Clinton was the first "black president".] Retrieved August 23, 2012.

{{main|Bill Clinton sexual assault and misconduct allegations}}

Throughout his career, Clinton has been subject to various allegations of sexual misconduct, though only his extramarital sexual relationships with Lewinsky and Flowers have been admitted by him.{{cite news |first=Francis X. |last=Clines |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E4D91739F937A25750C0A96E958260 |title=Testing of a President: the Accuser; Jones Lawyers Issue Files Alleging Clinton Pattern of Harassment of Women |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 14, 1998 |quote=The Presidential deposition released today confirmed several revelations reported earlier, including Mr. Clinton's confirmation... that he had had sex with Gennifer Flowers, a one-time Arkansas worker. |access-date=March 20, 2008}}

For alleged misconduct during his governorship Paula Jones brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton while he was president. Clinton argued that as a sitting president, he should not be vulnerable to a civil suit of this nature. The case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that "Deferral of this litigation until petitioner's Presidency ends is not constitutionally required."{{cite court|litigants=Clinton v. Jones|vol=No. 95-1853|reporter=U.S.|url=https://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=95-1853}}

However, Republican judge Susan Webber Wright of Arkansas dismissed the case.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/docs/order040198.htm |title=Judge Wright's Opinion |work=The Washington Post |date=August 26, 1999}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/02/clinton.jones.reax/ |title=Clinton Welcomes Jones Decision; Appeal Likely - April 2, 1998 |publisher=CNN |access-date=November 9, 2008}} Soon afterwards, Jones appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.{{cite news |first=Peter |last=Baker |title=Clinton Settles Paula Jones Lawsuit for $850,000 |date=November 14, 1998 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jones111498.htm |work=The Washington Post |access-date=August 19, 2013}}

During the deposition for the Jones lawsuit which was held at the White House,Deposition of William Jefferson Clinton, January 17, 1998 http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/13/jones.v.clinton.docs/clinton/ Clinton denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky{{spaced ndash}}a denial that became the basis for the impeachment charge of perjury.

On November 18, 1998, Clinton agreed to an out-of-court settlement, and agreed to pay Jones and her attorneys a sum of $850,000.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/18/jones/ |title=Appeals court ponders Paula Jones settlement - November 18, 1998 |publisher=CNN |access-date=November 9, 2008}} Clinton, however, still offered no apology to Jones and still denied ever engaging in a sexual affair with her.

In 1998, Kathleen Willey alleged Clinton sexually assaulted her four years previously. In 1998, Juanita Broaddrick alleged she was raped by Clinton some twenty years previously. The independent counsel determined Willey gave "false information" to the FBI and inconsistent sworn testimony related to the Jones allegation. Broaddrick's only sworn testimony about Clinton was a previous denial of any harassment by Clinton.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/broaddrick022599.htm |title=Clinton Accuser's Story Aired |work=The Washington Post |date=March 14, 1999}} Gennifer Flowers, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Sally Perdue and Dolly Kyle Browning – claimed to have had adulterous sexual relations with Clinton during or before his service as governor. Gracen later apologized to Hillary Clinton for having sex with Bill.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/25/clinton.gracen/ |title=Former Miss America Apologizes To First Lady - April 25, 1998 |publisher=CNN |access-date=November 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215100746/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/25/clinton.gracen/ |archive-date=December 15, 2006}} After Gracen made her claim, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr issued a subpoena to have her testify in court. Gracen, however, eluded the subpoena.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/subpoena122498.htm |work=The Washington Post |date=December 24, 1998|title=Big Year for the Bad News Bearers}}

Dolly Kyle Browning alleged that she and Clinton engaged in a long sexual affair from the mid-1970s until 1992.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/16/jones.clinton.docs/dolly.browning.declaration/ |publisher=CNN |title=Legal Documents: The Dolly Kyle Browning Declaration}} Browning began writing a "semi-autobiographical novel" about the affair. In the publication process, Browning claims that Clinton did everything in his power to prohibit and undermine publication. Browning sued Clinton for damages, but the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied her appeal.[http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/6717652191D1169185256F82005D3421/$file/01-5050a.txt Browning v. Clinton] No. 01-5050, June 11, 2002. Retrieved August 23, 2012.

A haircut Clinton received on May 13, 1993, by the stylist Cristophe aboard Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport became the subject of controversy at the time. The national media initially reported that air traffic was affected while two runways were shut down for an hour on account of the president's plane standing on the tarmac for the duration of the haircut.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/21/us/haircut-grounded-clinton-while-the-price-took-off.html |title=Haircut Grounded Clinton While the Price Took Off |last=Friedman |first=Thomas |date=May 21, 1993 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 3, 2015}}

The Washington Post mentioned "the most famous haircut since Samson's" in front page articles nine times over a six-week period,{{cite book |editor=Geneva Overholser |editor2=Kathleen Hall Jamieson |title=The Press |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=53–54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7L1d_XjwsoC&q=%22Bill+Clinton%22+haircut&pg=PA53 |isbn=9780195309140 }} and many other newspapers also seized on the story of what was called "the most expensive haircut in history".Hamilton, Nigel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wJmUbbMCh6UC&pg=PA120 Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency], p. 120. Later investigations revealed that only one commercial airliner was delayed, and that delay was only two minutes,{{cite news |date=June 30, 1993 |title=Clinton's runway haircut caused no big delays |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1993/06/30/clintons-runway-haircut-caused-no-big-delays-reports-incorrect-it-turns-out/ |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=April 22, 2015 |archive-date=July 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715013059/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-06-30/news/1993181197_1_air-traffic-air-taxi-passenger-flights |url-status=live }} but this finding was less widely reported.{{cite news |last=Shaw |first=David |date=September 17, 1993 |title=Did Reporters Let Their Feelings Affect Coverage? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-17-mn-36084-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=April 22, 2015}}

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{{Bill Clinton}}

Category:Bill Clinton

Clinton, Bill