On Bill Clinton's autumnal tone

Following this post from last night, reader Holden Lewis writes:

"I, too, have always detected an "it's later than you think" mindset from Bill Clinton, and I have a theory as to why. Clinton's father died before he was born.

"My father died before I was born, too. And the precariousness of life - the contingent nature of everything we do, and the fragility of all our plans - is always in the foreground for me. I'm sure that my fatherlessness and my worldview are connected. My intuition tells me that Clinton is the same way.

"For me, this comes out when someone wants reassurance from me - "Tell me that everything's going to be OK." I'm a born non-reassurer. Disaster can strike any minute, no matter how innocent we are. Clinton isn't much of a reassurer, either. He's better at delivering warnings and planning contingencies.

"Clinton's sense of justice draws from the same well, I think. When you grow up without having ever met your father, and all your friends have dads that they have varying levels of affection for, you get an early introduction to the unfairness of life. We all root for underdogs, but moreso for a fatherless boy and the man he becomes."