US Presidents, Day 42: Clinton

[Joe Republic]

Bill Clinton
Democratic
1993-2001


Discuss his presidency.

[Dr. Cynic]

This should be fun...

[Gabu]

It's a little known fact that he's entirely responsible for the Civil War, America's loss in the War of 1812, and the Great Depression.

[Dr. Cynic]

Not to mention the moral decline of society with his wannabe Kennedyesque perversions.

[Dr. Cynic]

Many people hate him simply because he is a Democrat.

Lest we forget his ability to connect with the masses of people... Or maybe it's the fact that he could probably have run for President again and beaten anybody they threw at him... Maybe they hate him for his good economy... Maybe they just hate him because you never saw Republicans getting any "action".

[Michael Z]

Many people hate him simply because he is a Democrat.

Lest we forget his ability to connect with the masses of people... Or maybe it's the fact that he could probably have run for President again and beaten anybody they threw at him... Maybe they hate him for his good economy... Maybe they just hate him because you never saw Republicans getting any "action".

Well, for what it's worth, Ike was quite the dirty little rascal, apparently.

[MaC]

It's a little known fact that he's entirely responsible for the Civil War, America's loss in the War of 1812, and the Great Depression.

are you a dumb?  Everyone with a blue avatar knows that! 

[Kevin]

Did little about Bin Laden and his group, Overall in my opinion he was a pretty medicore President. 

[Gabu]

Did little about Bin Laden and his group

Just like someone else until 9/11 happened.

[CPT MikeyMike]

Did little about Bin Laden and his group

Just like someone else until 9/11 happened.

Clinton had a better chance to get Bin Ladin - 8 years.

Clinton's only success was the ability to balance the budget.

Failure was weakening the morale of the military and inability to get Bin Ladin after the USS Cole attacks.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's a little known fact that he's entirely responsible for the Civil War, America's loss in the War of 1812, and the Great Depression.

How dare you let him off the hook for Ceasar's death?

[Robespierre's Jaw]

William Jefferson Clinton was an alright President. He did get closer to Osama bin Laden than President George W. Bush ever has. During his eight years in the White House, Clinton was always had scandals on his doorstep and somehow managed to fight them off. As Clinton said when he was running for President in '92, 'I'll fight until the last dog dies!'.

[opebo]

A Rockefeller Republican, or perhaps slightly to the right of that.

[bullmoose88]

I hated him while he was in office. Call it partisanship, call it a certain sort of jealous respect for the fact he was/is made out of teflon.

Anyways, with each passing day we have one of, if not THE, the worst presidents in our history in office, I miss Clinton's presidency.

The fact that there weren't more troubling issues during his terms than a simple bruha-ha-ha over fellatio (yes yes, perjury came later, but it was perjury over a BJ)...is rather telling. An achievement maybe.

[Dr. Cynic]

I hated him while he was in office. Call it partisanship, call it a certain sort of jealous respect for the fact he was/is made out of teflon.

Anyways, with each passing day we have one of, if not THE, the worst presidents in our history in office, I miss Clinton's presidency.

The fact that there weren't more troubling issues during his terms than a simple bruha-ha-ha over fellatio (yes yes, perjury came later, but it was perjury over a BJ)...is rather telling. An achievement maybe.

On the whole, Clinton was rather moderate... I think it came from some of the political Republicans feeling, for lack of a better word, impotent, because Bill had charisma. They realized Clinton could speak and connect with people, so they threw everything but the kitchen sink at him (Sound strategy, no?)

In the end, Bill will just be remembered as the President who got a happy ending in the Oval... Oh and he balanced the budget, but who gives a damn about that.

[Rob]

I still don't understand why Republicans hate him. Consider his accomplishments:

* Passed NAFTA, a trade agreement supported by the GOP
* Led the attack on the remnants of the social safety net, signing Republican-written welfare "reform" (and smirking that "the era of Big Government is over")
* Signed the Defense of Marriage Act banning same-sex marriage in an appeal to religious conservatives... and a vicious little jab at the gay activists who had supported him
* Fought for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, expanding the federal death penalty and limiting prisoners' rights
* Favored wide use of American power abroad, with "interventions" in the Balkans; also laid the groundwork for the current debacle by calling for regime change in Iraq
* Made "balancing the budget" his top concern at the expense of social spending, following the counsel of conservative Wall Street advisors

And on, and on. Seriously, why do conservatives hate him? Were his wars not disastrous enough to gain their approval, or what? He would have been considered too far to the right to lead the Democratic ticket in earlier years. Actually, on balance he was a pretty dreadful President.

[© tweed]

right wing hack

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I still don't understand why Republicans hate him. Consider his accomplishments:

* Passed NAFTA, a trade agreement supported by the GOP
* Led the attack on the remnants of the social safety net, signing Republican-written welfare "reform" (and smirking that "the era of Big Government is over")
* Signed the Defense of Marriage Act banning same-sex marriage in an appeal to religious conservatives... and a vicious little jab at the gay activists who had supported him
* Fought for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, expanding the federal death penalty and limiting prisoners' rights
* Favored wide use of American power abroad, with "interventions" in the Balkans; also laid the groundwork for the current debacle by calling for regime change in Iraq
* Made "balancing the budget" his top concern at the expense of social spending, following the counsel of conservative Wall Street advisors

And on, and on. Seriously, why do conservatives hate him? Were his wars not disastrous enough to gain their approval, or what? He would have been considered too far to the right to lead the Democratic ticket in earlier years. Actually, on balance he was a pretty dreadful President.

Because of the "D", and that huge right-wing smear campaign obviously - after 12 years of laziness republicans were too used to their little arrangements in Washington even if the silly little electorate had a different opinion on that.

And I always laugh when someone calls Clinton "left-wing" though he gets alot of credit from me for his role of Northern Ireland and his foreign policy. By default the best US president since the War (not that that is hard or anything...)

[Verily]

I still don't understand why Republicans hate him. Consider his accomplishments:

* Passed NAFTA, a trade agreement supported by the GOP
* Led the attack on the remnants of the social safety net, signing Republican-written welfare "reform" (and smirking that "the era of Big Government is over")
* Signed the Defense of Marriage Act banning same-sex marriage in an appeal to religious conservatives... and a vicious little jab at the gay activists who had supported him
* Fought for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, expanding the federal death penalty and limiting prisoners' rights
* Favored wide use of American power abroad, with "interventions" in the Balkans; also laid the groundwork for the current debacle by calling for regime change in Iraq
* Made "balancing the budget" his top concern at the expense of social spending, following the counsel of conservative Wall Street advisors

And on, and on. Seriously, why do conservatives hate him? Were his wars not disastrous enough to gain their approval, or what? He would have been considered too far to the right to lead the Democratic ticket in earlier years. Actually, on balance he was a pretty dreadful President.

Because of the "D", and that huge right-wing smear campaign obviously - after 12 years of laziness republicans were too used to their little arrangements in Washington even if the silly little electorate had a different opinion on that.

And I always have when someone calls Clinton "left-wing" though he gets alot of credit from me for his role of Northern Ireland and his foreign policy. By default the best US president since the War (not that that is hard or anything...)

By "the War" you mean WWII, I assume? I'd probably agree with you.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I still don't understand why Republicans hate him. Consider his accomplishments:

* Passed NAFTA, a trade agreement supported by the GOP
* Led the attack on the remnants of the social safety net, signing Republican-written welfare "reform" (and smirking that "the era of Big Government is over")
* Signed the Defense of Marriage Act banning same-sex marriage in an appeal to religious conservatives... and a vicious little jab at the gay activists who had supported him
* Fought for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, expanding the federal death penalty and limiting prisoners' rights
* Favored wide use of American power abroad, with "interventions" in the Balkans; also laid the groundwork for the current debacle by calling for regime change in Iraq
* Made "balancing the budget" his top concern at the expense of social spending, following the counsel of conservative Wall Street advisors

And on, and on. Seriously, why do conservatives hate him? Were his wars not disastrous enough to gain their approval, or what? He would have been considered too far to the right to lead the Democratic ticket in earlier years. Actually, on balance he was a pretty dreadful President.

Because of the "D", and that huge right-wing smear campaign obviously - after 12 years of laziness republicans were too used to their little arrangements in Washington even if the silly little electorate had a different opinion on that.

And I always have when someone calls Clinton "left-wing" though he gets alot of credit from me for his role of Northern Ireland and his foreign policy. By default the best US president since the War (not that that is hard or anything...)

By "the War" you mean WWII, I assume? I'd probably agree with you.

Yes.

[Joe Republic]

During his eight years in the White House, Clinton was always had scandals on his doorstep and somehow managed to fight them off.

You call getting impeached fighting off scandals?  The only reason he wasn't removed from office before his 8 years was up is because of the insane loyalty of the Democrats in congress at that time.

Perhaps you're forgetting which party held majorities in both chambers of Congress.

[Gabu]

During his eight years in the White House, Clinton was always had scandals on his doorstep and somehow managed to fight them off.

You call getting impeached fighting off scandals?  The only reason he wasn't removed from office before his 8 years was up is because of the insane loyalty of the Democrats in congress at that time.

Perhaps you're forgetting which party held majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Yes, it should be noted that Republicans had a majority in the Senate, and yet the votes for conviction based on perjury and obstruction of justice were 55-45 against and 50-50, respectively.  That was brought about due to the fact that five Republicans (John Chafee, Susan Collins, Jim Jeffords, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter) voted "not guilty" on both charges, and an additional five Republicans (Slade Gordon, Richard Shelby, Ted Stevens, Fred Thompson, and John Warner) voted "not guilty" on the charge of perjury.

Of course, it is also true that every single Democrat in the Senate voted "not guilty" on both charges, but it's kind of a stretch to say that that was the "only reason" he wasn't convicted.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

God, what a tool I've made of myself posting crap about Clinton fighting off scandals during his 8 years in the White House. I'm very sorry for my stuff-up.

[Sensei]

If I were a religious man, I'd say Clinton is going to hell, but other than that, He was the best president since FDR.

[gorkay]

All judgments of his presidency are provisional and speculative because of my thirty-year rule (you can't fairly judge a president until he's been out of office for about thirty years), but:

I would rate him as our best president since Truman, very effective in both domestic and foreign policy, a great communicator, a man who sincerely cared about people and their problems and tried to do something about them. A lot of the criticism about him is incredibly naive: he's ambitious (who gets to be president without a lot of ambition), he's duplicitous (hardly the only president in history who could be accused of such), he tailors his so-called beliefs to fit public opinion (ditto), his wife tells him what to think (Ronald Reagan's wife didn't?), he's ruthless to his political enemies (more ruthless than Richard Nixon?). And that's leaving out the sillier and/or more libelous accusations.

Politically, he's a very important figure, because he showed the Democrats that it was still possible for them to win the presidency, and showed them how, in the face of predictions from friend and foe alike that they were doomed to lose every four years in the foreseeable future. Personally, he's a man of great strengths and great flaws. It's to his discredit that he allowed the flaws to become the issue that they did, and to harm his ability to advocate and implement policies that could have helped a lot of people. It's to his credit that he has acknowledged this and tried to atone for it. As an ex-president, he is doing more good in the world than any since Jimmy Carter, and his bipartisan dealings with ex-President Bush are setting a good example in this age of ideological polarization.