Clinton

No wonder Bill Clinton won't shut up, said Cal Thomas in the Baltimore Sun. The man makes a fortune every time he opens his mouth. Since leaving office in 2001, The Washington Post recently reported, our 42nd president has earned nearly $40 million in speaking fees. 'œNo president before him has managed to cash in from his time in office with such shameless abandon.' He'll speak to virtually anyone with a fat checkbook, including foreign companies and governments, who've paid him two-thirds of his post-presidential windfall. Clinton took $200,000 from China's JingJi Real Estate Development Group for one speech, and another $600,000 from Dabbagh, a Saudi Arabian investment firm. 'œOther than greed, what is the primary motivation for Bill Clinton's massive cash-in?' As usual with the Clintons, it's ambition: By putting millions in the bank, Clinton is building a private war chest that his wife, Hillary, can spend on her own campaign for president.

Therein lies an interesting problem, said Linda Chavez in the New York Post. As a private citizen, Bill Clinton can take six-figure checks from anyone he likes, without any of the limits imposed by campaign finance law. But since he's free to share that largesse with his wife, anyone looking to buy influence with the next President Clinton can simply give a truckload of cash to the last President Clinton. The investment giant Goldman Sachs, for example, has paid Bill Clinton $650,000 for four speeches, while also steering $270,000 in employee and political action committee contributions to Hillary. Citigroup has taken the same backdoor, paying Bill Clinton $250,000 for a single speech, while giving $320,000 to Hillary through employee and PAC contributions. 'œIf this isn't buying influence, what is?'

Clinton, unfortunately, hardly sets the standard for post'“White House greed, said Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe. When he retired, Gerald Ford gobbled up 'œhigh-paying board memberships' with 20th Century Fox and American Express. Ronald Reagan was paid $2 million for two 20-minute speeches in Japan. George Herbert Walker Bush charges up to $100,000 for each appearance. Contrast them with Harry Truman, who left office in 1953 with no government support except his Army pension of $112.56 a month. He turned down commercial endorsements, consulting fees, jobs on corporate boards, and even a free car. 'œI could never lend myself to any transaction,' Truman wrote, 'œthat would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency.' A half-century later, that kind of integrity seems as 'œquaint and obsolete as George Washington's wooden teeth.'

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