Ezra Klein: Peretz Watch

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March 02, 2007

Peretz Watch

In this edition of my favorite blog, we find that raising billions of dollars to combat the AIDS pandemic, fight global warming, ease global poverty, and pursue conflict resolution demeans the dignity of the presidency and is, in the end, nothing more than typical Clintonian "scrounging for money." Note too the hilarious last sentence, where Peretz tries to combine a nod to the reality of Clinton's mega-philanthropy and a parting shot into one awesome clause.

March 2, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

I sure your 'favorite blog' comment was said with your smiling face turned on.

What a putz he is.

I think he may be jealous that he won't get speaking fees worth having after he 'voluntarily retires' real soon now. Will Peretz spend his retirement raising money for worthy causes? Maybe for AIPAC, otherwise not so much.

Posted by: JimPortlandOR | Mar 2, 2007 11:27:26 AM

Peretz should be interesting, if a bit sad, to watch in the coming months.

Posted by: Stephen | Mar 2, 2007 11:28:47 AM

If Peretz was claiming that the Clinton's efforts were merely insufficient and one would be better off donating to Doctors without Borders, it would be one thing, but that's not even what he's doing. No, he sees it as his life's mission apparently to knowck down former presidents who like to get wealthy donors to donate money to fight diseases, as he also has it out for the Carter Center, who are trying to eradicate guinea worm. As best I can tell, unless you make sure your donation meets Maimonides' highest level of tzedakah, and also side with Israel vs. the Palestinians, then you just don't qualify as a mensch.

BTW, if Al Gore, who he really likes, were to praise Jimmy Carter, who he despises, would Peretz' head explode? Can we make this happen and check?

Posted by: jfaberuiuc | Mar 2, 2007 11:30:25 AM

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I admit I was a bit taken aback when I saw that Clinton had cleared a cool $10 mil last year on speaking fees. Yeah, he folded alot of the high-ticket speeches into fund-raising appearances for the Foundation. But still, the amount he kept for himself stopped me in my tracks.

Where I think Peretz is mistaken is in thinking this has something to do with the cheapening of the Presidency as opposed to the market-sprawl that's creeped into just about everything. Today's IHT has a piece on Alan Greenspan, who takes in $150 grand for subscription-only investment bull sessions. I don't think it's cheapening. It's just the way things are now, compared to say, 1950.

Posted by: Headline Junky | Mar 2, 2007 1:35:20 PM

Headline Junky, yeah $10 million is a filthy lot of dough, but using the pro sports metric of "how many butts does he put in the seats?" you can make the argument that he's worth it. And when you consider that baseball and basketball players get that much to make people come watch a game and buy beer, as opposed to learning about a philanthropic cause and donating to it, well, then it starts to look pretty utopic. How many times have you looked at what they pay A-Rod and thought, if they could only do good things with that money? I dare say, Clinton is fulfilling the dreams of us idealists. I'll spot him $10 mill for that.

Posted by: Rick | Mar 2, 2007 3:25:17 PM

No disagreement from me, Rick. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Clinton doesn't deserve the dough. (After all, some folks are making that much in a year just on dividends and interest payments.) Or that it's wrong to make loads of money. And I certainly wouldn't argue that anybody should turn down $10 mil.

I was simply surprised. I just hadn't realized anyone was making that kind of bank giving speeches. Obviously, there's more to a Clinton speech than the speech, which is why he can command those rates. And he does do a lot of good works in addition. No complaints from me.

As for what they pay A-Rod, my only complaint is that they haven't won with him yet.

Posted by: Headline Junky | Mar 3, 2007 3:36:51 PM

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