In Interview, Bill Clinton Takes On The Greatest Generation

[The Straight Story]

In Interview, Bill Clinton Takes On The Greatest Generation

In an interview with The Atlantic, former President Bill Clinton takes some hard shots at the World War II generation.

Brian Till asks him if his generations' inability to come to a solution on huge things like climate change and nuclear proliferation would cause history to judge the post-Cold War generation of leaders harshly.

Clinton shoots back:

"No. I think that's a cheap trick. I mean, all of this "the greatest generation is World War II?" — it just happens that they're the most horrible parents in human history, right?

"If all of us baby boomers were so bad, then our parents were terrible; they failed. And if we were so bad, how come our kids are so great? We were hellaciously good parents.

"I think it's phony as a $3 bill. I think they had a chance to win World War II and it was clear. These are much more complex things . We have no idea if the World War II generation would have made the decisions they should make on climate change if they thought doing so would bring an end to their economic prosperity."

Clinton goes on to say that the WWII generation made decisions based on clearcut situations: They were thrust into war and did what they "had to do." Clinton also walked back a bit of what he said saying he admired the WWII generation.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/05/23/136586075/in-interview-bill-clinton-takes-on-the-greatest-generation

[DonCoquixote]

1. Yes, some people got halos

that should not have, but for Bill C. to make this type of comment shows a very annoying self-centeredness, exactly the stereotype many Boomers have been trying to unload. Yes, they were thrust into things, just as Gen X and later were, but you Bill, were part of a generation that had an unprecedented amount of good fortune thrown their way, and many )not ALL( of your generations responded by being both bad children (the ones that keep whining about the last generation, and bad parents (the ones who ruined the future of the next generation.) If your kids were "so great", it was very often because we saw how your generation took sex, drugs and rock and roll and turned all of that into neurosis, excess, and disco.

[Ramulux]

2. I think the whole "greatest generation" thing..

is insulting and incredibly childish.

[Donnachaidh]

3. Captain Nafta

:eyes:

[mulsh]

4. to quote my "greatest generation" father and uncle,

"greatest generation my ass." My dad loathed that term and loathed the guy who wrote that "stupid book" almost as much. He hated most of what he did during the war, hated being 10 years old and working to help support his family at the height of the depression. His younger brother felt much the same.

My dad was a Navy Pilot and served on a submarine in the Pacific theater, My uncle was a Marine in the European theater. Neither of them kept any of the medals they earned during the war. Neither of them encouraged my brothers an me to join a service.