Why didn't Obama praise Clinton for a balanced budget by

[INdemo]

raising taxes on the rich and taking the country to a point of a budget surplus..Instead he quoted and praised Reagan...

[muntrv]

1. He did mention the last surplus was in 2000 but didn't mention Bill.

[PragmaticLiberal]

2. Not a big deal...

President Obama has mentioned Clinton plenty of times in the past.

And besides, invoking Reagan and Bush was much more effective in getting his point across.

[CakeGrrl]

3. Do you really, really NOT get why he mentions Reagan?

He's framing the R's as hypocrites for balking at doing something Reagan wanted.

Man, I don't understand why people can't see him boxing in the R's.

He needs to show people who don't follow this stuff day in and day out WHO the problem is.

[PragmaticLiberal]

5. At least you understand.

:toast:

[and-justice-for-all]

10. Correct. So many people just do not get that...nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

16. CakeGrrl, as usual, you've put it in terms ANYONE can understand.

:thumbsup:

[JoePhilly]

19. +1

[PoliticAverse]

21. Exactly. He's rubbing Reagan in their faces every chance he gets. n/t

[SadPanda]

4. That's a mistake by the speech writer. It should have been brought up

Not sure how that thought didn't cross at least one mind. He definitely should have mentioned Clinton. There is a reverse argument about the Clinton Admin being connected to the Dot.com bubble. And there is actually a lot of evidence that is true. Maybe that believe in that viewpoint. Who knows.

EDIT: The other reason is that he knows a lot of Americans still hate the Clinton's and if you rewatch the speech there is nothing overtly aggressive.

[karynnj]

8. The dot.com bubble may have made the deficits lower and the deficits turn to surpluses faster,

but the fact is that the actions Clinton took were in fact designed to increase revenue and decrease spending, leading to planned lower deficits and then surpluses. The Dot.com boom, with the huge capital gains as people sold highly appreciated stock, of course added to revenue making the actuals in those last few years better than the projections.

I suspect that the reason he did not emphasize that it was Clinton who had that surplus was that he was trying to hit a bipartisan, not political note. He made the case he needed to make - that this deficit did not magically grow starting in January 2009 - and he listed the causes that all Democrats have spoken of - the tax cuts, the two unfunded wars, the unfunded medical drug plan and the collapse of the economy. However, he did that in a speech that did not seem overtly partisan. Contrast that to Boehner's recitation of all the RW talking points.

Not only was this appropriate for a President, mentioning Reagan as having argued for a similar package has the potential of reaching the people on the other side who are reachable. (I don't know if this works as I always ignored Bush mentioning people like JFK.)

[mtnsnake]

6. Obama sounded good, but he SHOULD have stressed Clinton's successful budget & his tax rates

and he should have mentioned how Bush ruined such a good thing on behalf of the wealthiest, greediest people in this country.

I love Obama, but I wish to fuck he would never mention Reagan's name again in such a positive manner like he always does. If anything, Reagan had as big a hand in laying the foundation for our current economic crisis as anyone outside of George W Bush.

Bottom line, the Republicans' only concern is keeping Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, PERIOD.

[Proles]

7. Yeah, I understand why

he mentioned Reagan. I mean we all despise Reagan, but by framing him in the context he did, it makes the repubs look like hypocrits.

I think it was one of the things he said right during his address, despite not having been harder on the repubs.

[and-justice-for-all]

9. He is trying to make contact with repukes and their droves of fools...nt

[Avalux]

11. Because he didn't want to appear partisan. He was speaking to everyone.

He uses Reagan as an example so that non Dems will listen. He has go get them - as Americans - to understand that the people they voted for, are screwing this country.

[marlakay]

12. Like I heard at another blog he was talking to

the few moderate republicans left in America and independents...he already knows the far right is lost and we are pissed!

[one_voice]

13. When he praises Reagan...

or uses Reagan's words...it forces the teatards to either sell their God down the river or look like hypocrites. That's what I see when he does it. I use the same tactic when I'm on bi-partisan sites arguing/debating and they get very flustered and the spinning is funny as hell.

I'm not saying that's why he does it..but that's what I get. Look at that guy Joe Walsh when Laurence O brought it up..he got downright snippy..while trying to explain why what Obama says is wrong but when Reagan said it it was right. He uses/used the exact same words as Saint Ronnie...

[killbotfactory]

14. That's the real tragedy in all this

Obama not giving Clinton enough props.

[AtomicKitten]

15. FFS. He didn't praise Reagan. The vignette illustrated the GOP's hypocrisy on the debt ceiling.

Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the point he was making.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. I can't believe we watched the same speech. You are so off-base, it isn't funny.

:shrug:

[ZombieHorde]

18. I think he does it for the same reasons atheists quote Jesus to conservative Christians.

Demonstrates hypocrisy, and watching their heads explode is fun.

[JoePhilly]

20. +1