By Don Kenobi
He writes:
The people most blind to America’s decline—
an assured outcome under the Republican Party—
are those who, historically, have always opposed America’s true promise:
a promise meant for all.
“Do not be a city—nay, the city on the hill,” they cry.
“Be instead our city—
not a hilltop lighthouse for the world,
but hidden under our bushel—
for us alone.”
They hold America’s promise against her.
The Decline
The decline began when Clinton’s Vice President had the presidency snatched away—
by a single Supreme Court vote.
And yes, that deciding vote was Clarence Thomas’s.
Everyone loves George now… but let’s be honest—
he was a step down from the brilliance of the Clinton years.
Watching Bill Clinton on TV was like watching Jesus.
We hung on every word.
He wasn’t just a president.
He was The Man.
The perfect man.
The perfect president.
The perfect backstory:
Born into poverty, father dead before birth,
raised by an alcoholic stepfather,
tall, good-looking—
and he played the saxophone.
It was the perfect American story.
The Original Sin
But here’s the catch:
He was the first non-millionaire to become president.
Don’t forget—Jimmy Carter, the “peanut farmer,” was already a millionaire.
Clinton wasn’t even close.
And to my probing mind, that was his original sin.
The oligarchy couldn’t have it.
The presidency was not meant for outsiders—
not for anyone outside their “bloodline.”
They had to destroy him.
And he was Irish—
poor and Irish?!
Nah.
I can almost hear those dissolute elites weeping each morning, inconsolable:
“How did this happen?
How did a poor Irish boy—whose closest friends were Black—
become president?
What will our ancestors think of us?”
At the time, even Black America called Clinton the first Black president.
That phrase—an open insult to the oligarchy.
They mocked it.
Derided it.
Laughed at Black people for daring to imagine.
I believe it was John Lewis—“Good Trouble” Lewis—who first used it.
And the backlash came fast:
“Black president?
Your Black a*!
Wake up. Smell the coffee. He’s not Black!”
They had to fix it.
And they did.
The Attack
They came for him with everything.
Asa Hutchinson. Lindsey Graham—then a little-known congressman—
already calling Clinton unfit for office,
demanding resignation for “desecrating” the Oval Office.
(He chuckles bitterly.)
Irony of ironies—Lindsey Graham may go down
as the single worst American in history,
the man who betrayed his country the most.
Where was I?
Ah yes—the Lewinsky affair.
A moral failing, yes.
But blown into a crisis of biblical proportions.
I remember Clinton pointing his finger at the camera and saying:
“I will not resign.
I will stay in this office until the last second of the last minute
of the last hour of the last day of my presidency.”
You know the rest.
But what you may not know
is its impact ten thousand kilometers away.
The Night of the Vote
I was visiting my mother in Benin City.
Mercifully, there was light—electricity—so the TV was on.
We followed the Senate vote to acquit or convict.
When the “Nays” crossed the threshold,
my mother and I held hands and danced.
I don’t think we ever held hands and danced before—or since.
Clinton was our man.
To us, he truly was the first Black president.
The Fix
And that is why I’m writing—
to remind you how we got to the Now.
The power structure had to fix it.
America, to them, was still a slave plantation.
They got to decide who the major domo would be.
To quote Eminem:
“How the hell did this metamorphosis happen?”
How did a poor Irish boy, so poor his only friends were Black,
become master of the Republic?
Answer: They had to fix it.
They unleashed Kenneth Starr—
a special counsel with one mission: destroy Clinton.
He failed so spectacularly
that I think he lost his mind.
Only to resurface decades later
as one of Trump’s defense lawyers during impeachment.
Poetic.
Tragic.
Ironic.
Starr was egregious.
And living with the Clintons in his head for thirty years
was punishment enough.
So—having failed to take Clinton down—
they moved to restore order to the plantation.
Enter George Bush, the son.
Order restored.
After September 11
The decline deepened after September 11,
when American Christianity allowed hate into its heart.
And as Hercule Poirot once said:
“Do not allow hate into your heart…
or it will make a permanent home there.”
(He looks up. Dawn filters through the Molue window.)
I’ll analyze that another day.
For now, it’s 04:37 on September 2,
and it’s time for coffee and the gym.
Good morning.
— Don Kenobi
(The Passenger at the back row of the Molue with a writing pad on his lap, watching the world go by.)
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