Bill Clinton

[white_wolf]

So lately I've been listening to Thom Hartmann and I have noticed he seems to lump Clinton in with Reagan and Bush blaming him for the recession. Im 20 so I will admit I was too young to pay attention to the economy or politics during the Clinton administration, but even now when we talk about politics my parents talk about how good the economy was under Bill and how we were paying off the national debt. Anyway I just wanted to hear your all's opinions on Bill and reasons why you like or dislike him.

[Bicoastal]

1. Many liberals blamed Clinton for EXACTLY what they are blaming Obama for now...

...because, remember, there was NO difference between Democrats and Republicans, circa 2000...Clinton's VP or Bush's son, what's the difference?

Well, the last 8 years have exemplified that difference. I'd rather our President be right 50% of the time than wrong 100%.

[Laelth]

15. +1

Clinton sold out the left on several key items:

Destruction of AFDC and creation of the nearly-useless TANF
NAFTA
Telecommunications Act of 1996
Repeal of Glass-Steagall

Of course, he gave us two, good Supreme Court Justices. He also turned a budget deficit into a budget surplus. So, it's a mixed bag.

Ultimately, though, he was the best Republican resident since Eisenhower, and that's worth something.

:dem:

-Laelth

[DURHAM D]

16. Have you ever looked at the House and Senate vote on Glass Steagall.

Your post is horse shit and rightwing tripe.

"The final bill was passed in the Senate 90–8 (one not voting) and in the House: 362–57 (15 not voting). The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999."

Many consider TANF an improvement. Its just a matter of opinion.

Your last sentence is typical nader nonsense.

[Laelth]

17. Your post proves that the number of real liberals in the House and Senate is small.

I'd bet those 8 Senate votes and the 57 House votes were the real liberals.

I can't help it if many elected Democrats don't actually support Democratic ideals.

Your whole post is defensive and belligerent--proof that I have a point. Smile, your colors are showing.

:hi:

:dem:

-Laelth

[Ron Green]

2. What Clinton did was to continue leading us on a Market ride rather than

giving us the dire reality that Jimmy Carter, despite his faults, was speaking. The fact is that Americans, and most "industrialized" people, live in a totally unsustainable way. What politician is going to risk saying that? Certainly not the Big Dog. And not even Barack Obama.

[begin_within]

3. He lost me with NAFTA.

Now Obama has lost me with his trillion-dollar giveway to the health insurance industry.

[white_wolf]

5. NAFTA?

I have heard people mention NAFTA,but what exactly did it do? A link would be fine if you don't want to explain it.

[begin_within]

8. It's a long, sad story

http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/

Among its many results is that the New River is the most polluted river in the U.S.

http://www.jennyross.com/gallery/d/1414-3/The+Polluted+New+River.jpg

http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/NewRToxicPathtoUSA.html

Also that manufacturing in the U.S. is nearly dead.

[Dappleganger]

24. NAFTA spelled out the beginning of the end for manufacturing in the US

It's why dh is on his 2nd major layoff (more than 6 months out of work aside from a contracting job).

[NJmaverick]

4. Clinton lead the nation through economic growth and turned record debts into record surplus

however he signed a Republican bill that deregulated parts of the banking industry. This deregulation was part of the cause for the collapse. However since he was out of office for 7 years when the collapse happened, to blame Clinton is to assume a better President than Bush wouldn't have seen and corrected the problems that bill caused.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. Clinton's trade deals are what I have the biggest problem with

NAFTA and it's counterparts destroyed manufacturing in this country.



P.S. welcome to DU

[onehandle]

7. President Clinton pulled us out of Bush I's Recession. Bush II put us right back and beyond.

The Republican Congress during Clinton's terms are greatly responsible for America's long term damage, if you ask me.

[asdjrocky]

9. Wow, 20 years old.

Dude, it's so cool you're here and checking in with an honest question. Welcome to DU.

Bill Clinton was the first Democratic President to be elected when I was an adult. I've been a liberal all my life and I had a long list of problems with the Clinton administration. Many of the policies that Bush expanded on were started under Clinton and many of the problems we have today can be traced directly to policies of the Clinton administration and the Republican controlled Congress at the time.

To me, Clinton was a DLC Corporatist. NAFTA, Welfare Reform, Telecommunications Act are just a few of the things that bother me about Bill Clinton. I supported him with my vote twice, worked for his election in 91 and 92, but to me he never paned out to be the President he could have been. By 1999 I was protesting his policies nearly full time.

Keep asking questions, and if you haven't already, get yourself a copy of Howard Zinn's, Peoples History of the United States. That book shows our real history far better than any radio show or Internet board.

[lunatica]

10. Read up on two things in relation to Bill Clinton

Glass Steagall Act of 1933 which Bill Clinton repealed which lifted the government regulations on bankers so they could do whatever they wanted with your money including playing the stock market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_Act

and NAFTA which enabled corporations to outsource American work to cheaper countries so their profits would grow even as our jobs dried up. Ross Perot ran on "That Great Sucking Sound you Hear are American Jobs Going to Other Countries". Prescient wasn't he?

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20091224/OPINION10/91223052/1004/OPINION/NAFTA-agreement-has-done-nothing-to-improve-our-lives

So Thom Hartman is correct. Bill Clinton played an important part in our current economic disaster. But other countries where Corporations have outsourced our jobs are doing well. They're rapidly turning into economic world superpowers like China and India while our economy takes a beating because our jobs are gone.

edited for spelling

[asdjrocky]

12. I can't believe I forgot about Glass Steagall. nt

[DURHAM D]

18. Blaming Clinton for the Glass Steagall Act is total crap.

Self serving of you not to mention the vote in the House and Senate. Typical rightwing drivel that is constantly used by so-called Democrats.

NAFTA - legitimate complaint. I know Obama has promised to fix it but then secretly told others not to worry - it was just a campaign strategy.

[walldude]

11. Clinton was a good Republican. No joke.

He was what I would consider a good republican. Cleaned up the fiscal house. But he also fucked over welfare, started NAFTA, deregulated banks, cheated on his wife, and reneged on a promise to pardon Leonard Peltier. He was a snake but he got shit done.

[lunatica]

14. Don't forget he caved on the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy when

A good part of why he won the elections was his promise to make LGBT's civil rights equal. It took him a mere few weeks to renege on that promise. And two decades later the issue still hasn't been fixed. Which should give people pause when they want to kill the incremental progress of health care reform. Sometimes we must jump on getting our foot in the door rather than refusing to do that and get the door slammed in our faces for another generation.

Politics aren't pretty. But progress can be attained if we work steadily towards it for however long it takes. That's how the NeoCons did it. And it culminated in the Bush Administration who is directly accountable for our financial and military disasters now. And they don't even have to fix the mess they left. It's up to our side to fix it.

[DURHAM D]

19. Regarding DADT - you have a hole in your gay history.

Are you gay?

[lunatica]

20. No I'm not. Does that matter?

From my memory he campaigned on making it legal for gays to openly join the military. Then when the time came he decided to do his compromise Don't Ask Don't Tell policy where gays still had to keep quiet.

Am I wrong?

[DURHAM D]

21. Yes. You are wrong. nt

[lunatica]

22. Thanks for elaborating

It would have been decent of you to enlighten me.

[OHdem10]

13. Yes Bill Clinton, one of the most powerful men in America, did

contribute to present Meltdown. He loosened Bank Regulations
by repealing Glass-Steagall. The Crash of "29 was largely
caused by the same gambling habit on Wall Street. After
FDR finally got the Depression starting to mend. They
passed a law--Glass-Steagall which SEPARATED the Investment
Banks from the Commercial Banks. This meant Wall Street could
not gamble with the Taxpayers money any more. They had to use
their own money and if they screwed up so be it. Wall Street
convinced Bill Clinton to lift or repeal Glass-Steagall.
This gave Wall Street a whole pot of new money with which
to gamble. Gamble they did. The reason we had to bail them
out was to salvage as much as we could for the taxpayers.
Thank the Republicans and Bill Clinton for this history.

People never explain we are going through and Adjustment
of our economy. All these job losses are not due to the
Bank Failures. Golobalization has not worked out as they
thought it would. Our standard of living is being lowered
to be more equal with the rest of the world. Nafta and other
Trade agreements poorly designed and poorly managed have
left us with no mfg base and a dissappearing middle class.

The GOP and Bill Clinton pushed Nafta through.

This is very brief explanation but this is why Liberals who
like Bill Clinton do not always stand up and cheer his policies.

[dysfunctional press]

23. clinton's presidency coincided with the tech boom, y2k, and the inflating of the housing bubble.

he was in the right place at the right time to take the credit.

[cornermouse]

25. Clinton came on the heels of the Reagan/Bush era

The Reagan/Bush era was horrible. Unions were under constant attack from the government and Reagan was able to render a lot of them immobile or put them out of business entirely. But even if your income didn't depend on unions, they had a catastrophic effect. Clinton came into office and in my family, at least, income went up; no wars or threats of war. Overall I have mostly happy memories of the Clinton years. Certainly his years in office were much better than Reagan/Bush and maybe that's the reason Clinton is remembered so fondly in spite of his mistakes.