Bill Clinton

==Public image==
{{Main|Public image of Bill Clinton}}
[[File:Bill Clinton 1995 im Parlament in London.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Clinton addressing the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] on November 29, 1995]]
Clinton was the first [[baby boomers|baby boomer]] president.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sandalow |first=Marc |title=Clinton Era Marked by Scandal, Prosperity: 1st Baby Boomer in White House Changed Notions of Presidency |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 14, 2001 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/14/MN71509.DTL |access-date=October 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611162047/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2001%2F01%2F14%2FMN71509.DTL |archive-date=June 11, 2008 }}</ref> Authors Martin Walker and [[Bob Woodward]] stated that Clinton's innovative use of [[sound bite]]-ready dialogue, personal charisma, and public perception-oriented campaigning were a major factor in his high public approval ratings.<ref>Martin Walker, ''Clinton: the President they deserve'', Fourth Estate 1999</ref><ref>Bob Woodward, ''The choice: how Clinton won'', Touchstone 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-684-81308-0}}</ref> When Clinton played the saxophone on ''[[The Arsenio Hall Show]]'', he was described by some religious conservatives as "the MTV president".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vargas |first1=Jose Antonio |title=Bill Clinton -- The MTV President |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bill-Clinton-The-MTV-President-2961362.php |work=SFGATE |date=January 21, 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bresler |first1=Robert J. |title=The Muddled Meaning of the 2000 Election |id={{Gale|A6969839}} |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Muddled+Meaning+of+the+2000+Election.-a069698398 |newspaper=USA Today |volume=129 |issue=2668 |date=January 1, 2001 |page=13 }}</ref> Opponents sometimes referred to him as "Slick Willie", a nickname which was first applied to him in 1980 by ''Pine Bluff Commercial'' journalist [[Paul Greenberg (journalist)|Paul Greenberg]];<ref name=mafadgreenberg>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice/bill/greenberg.html American Frontline:Stories of Bill]. Retrieved May 4, 2015</ref> Greenberg believed that Clinton was abandoning the progressive policies of previous Arkansas Governors such as [[Winthrop Rockefeller]], [[Dale Bumpers]] and [[David Pryor]].<ref name=mafadgreenberg /> The claim "Slick Willie" would last throughout his presidency.<ref name=WaPoNickname>{{Cite news| title = It's Come To This: A Nickname That's Proven Hard to Slip | last = Mérida| first = Kevin| date = December 20, 1998 | newspaper=The Washington Post | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/slick122098.htm}}</ref> His folksy manner led him to be [[List of nicknames of United States Presidents|nicknamed]] [[Bubba]] starting from the 1992 presidential election.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Kenneth C. |title=Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-06-008381-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=541 |author-link=Kenneth C. Davis}}</ref> Since 2000, he has frequently been referred to as "The Big Dog" or "Big Dog".<ref>{{cite news | last=Dowd | first=Maureen | author-link=Maureen Dowd | 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."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first1=Jim | last1=Rutenberg |first2=Kate | last2=Zernike | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21clinton.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21clinton.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited | 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&nbsp;...}}{{cbignore}}</ref> His prominent role in campaigning for President Obama during the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 presidential election]] and his widely publicized speech at the [[2012 Democratic National Convention]], where he officially nominated Obama and criticized Republican nominee [[Mitt Romney]] and Republican policies in detail, earned him the nickname "Explainer-in-Chief".<ref>{{cite news | author=McDuffee, Allen | 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] | newspaper= The Washington Post | date = September 6, 2012 | access-date=January 25, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | author=Poniewozik, James | url=http://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 | magazine= [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=September 6, 2012 | access-date=January 25, 2013}}</ref>

Clinton drew strong support from the African American community and insisted that the improvement of race relations would be a major theme of his presidency.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122950.html | title=A Conversation With President Bill Clinton on Race in America Today | publisher=[[Center for American Progress]] | date=July 16, 2004 | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-date=November 8, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108130318/http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122950.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1998, [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureate [[Toni Morrison]] 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".<ref name=MorrisonNewYorker>{{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| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061021020246/http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/clinton/morrison.html| archive-date= October 21, 2006 | url-status=live}}</ref> Morrison noted that Clinton's sex life was scrutinized more than his career accomplishments, and she compared this to the stereotyping and [[double standard]]s that, she said, black people typically endure.<ref name=MorrisonNewYorker /> Many viewed this comparison as unfair and disparaging both to Clinton and to the African-American community.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Coates|first1=Ta-Nehisi|title=It Was No Compliment to Call Bill Clinton 'The First Black President'|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/08/toni-morrison-wasnt-giving-bill-clinton-a-compliment/402517/ |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=August 27, 2015 |access-date=October 21, 2016}}</ref>