General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Look people: What do we *really* know about Elizabeth Warren? [View all]Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)While governor, Clinton exempted seniors from the sales tax on medicines, and increased the home property tax exemption for seniors. My mother, who is about as "99%" as can be, greatly benefited from both of those actions. Clinton also spent a lot of time trying to attract Japanese companies to build production facilities in Arkansas to provide jobs in economically sluggish areas, and he raised teachers' salaries, increased opportunities for vo-tech training, and generally devoted a lot of resources to improving educational facilities in the state. He also worked to improve Arkansas' roads, which benefited everyone.
He was, at least in the early days of his presidency, still a "man of the people". A few months after he became President, he came back to Arkansas for a vacation. I, and several dozen other well-wishers, gathered at the Springdale airport to greet him, waiting outside on a very hot August day. Air Force One parked just a hundred yards or so from where we were waiting. It was so close that we could see Clinton getting out of the plane. And the first thing he did when he left the plane was come over to where we were waiting and start shaking hands. I don't think he left until he was satisfied that he had shaken hands and exchanged greetings with everyone who wanted to do so. That was hardly the behavior of a man who was only beholden to the 1%.
And Clinton was in no way a "Dixiecrat"-- you must be confusing him with George Wallace, Orval Faubus, or Lester Maddox. He did get a little too chummy with Bush Sr., but that was after he left the presidency. But his slogan during his 1992 presidential campaign was "It's the economy, stupid!", with "stupid" being an indirect reference to Bush Sr., who had essentially turned the 1992 Republican National Convention into a tribute to his family.