Opinion of Bill Clinton

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Let's not forget that there was only so much political capital the Democrats had at their fingertips in this era.  Before the '92 election, the Democrats had lost the White House in three landslide elections in a row.  Sure, we had both houses of Congress for most of those years (tainted by a 'conservative coalition'), but Democrats never had the opportunity to get through a full agenda because the momentum just wasn't there.  Even Clinton tried pursuing health care reform, passing a middle-class tax cut, allowing gays to serve in the military, etc., and either the public or Congress was against him every time.  Then, of course, the Republicans had control of Congress for six of eight years of the presidency.  There simply wasn't a mandate for either side.

I think Clinton doesn't have a stainless record and I think he should have done many things differently, but for the Washington climate at the time, he was quite an effective president who kept an insane Congress (only slightly more reasonable than the Tea Party) in check.  His accomplishments weren't large, but they were many, but most of them are sadly forgotten about (1993 budget, minimum wage increase, crime bills, gun control, medical leave, EITC, SCHIP, child tax credit, Head Start funding increase, etc.).  I think that if we were living in the 90s right now, many of the same Obama fanboys here would be the ones kissing Clinton's feet and lauding him for the good economy that we'd been able to enjoy.