What if Al Gore had taken over?

Re “Reckoning with Bill Clinton,” Opinion, Nov. 4

Joshua Kendall points out the hypocrisy of the Democrats with respect to the sexual assault allegations against President Clinton. This leads me to a thought experiment: What if Clinton had resigned?

Al Gore would have been president two years before the 2000 election, significantly boosting his chance at beating then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Gore most likely would have listened to his national security team, and the 9/11 attack might have been foiled.

Instead, an embattled and distracted Clinton was unable to bring peace to the Middle East. The next administration, we got lied to about weapons of mass destruction. We’re stuck with Gitmo, an endless war on terror and a democracy on the verge of meltdown.

I ask again: What if Clinton and the Democrats had done the right thing in 1998?

Tom Tomeoni

Thousand Oaks

We should also reckon with Clinton’s political legacy, which is affecting America to this day.

Clinton pulled the Democrats right, changing the party of working people into one that deregulated banks and set us on course for the great recession, creating the economic malaise that gave us President Trump. Clinton also bought the Republicans’ specious and exploitative arguments about African American “super predators” and welfare cheats.

While the economy under Clinton was good, on the whole, I think he did more damage to the country than liberals believe.

Zareh Delanchian

Tujunga

When Republicans complain about the Democrats’ double standard on sexual assault, the Democrats answered with, “But that was years ago, and with the #MeToo movement the culture has changed.”

But in 1991, many Democrats tried to take down then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Clarence Thomas, an episode that predated Clinton’s problems.

The culture shifts for Democrats depending on who is in the crosshairs.

Robert Chapman

Downey