While basking in the adoration of throngs (not thongs!) of people awaiting him at bookstores, did former President Bill Clinton have a gnawing worry about (as a headline in the Washington Times puts it) “The legacy — oops!”?


As TWT’s Tony Blankley notes:


“The media in the last week has reported three major political themes to Mr. Clinton’s memoir: confessing moral fault regarding Miss Lewinsky; blaming partisanship for the impeachment; and confessing that not catching Osama bin Laden is one of his biggest disappointments.


“The first two points are fairly routine and predictable. The Lewinsky matter couldn’t be finessed, so it had to be confessed. On impeachment, he basically took the Nixon path — claiming he made mistakes, but his partisan opponents abused the constitutional process in going after him.


“But it is that third point about failing to catch Osama bin Laden where Mr. Clinton probably, and correctly, realizes he is historically most vulnerable. Whether or not Mr. Clinton tried as hard as he could, the cruel, objective fact of history is that bin Laden and his al Qaeda emerged on Mr. Clinton’s watch. He failed to nip it in the bud, and it has now blossomed into a malignant worldwide danger.”