I've waited SIX HOURS to post this defense of Bill Clinton

[ShaneGR]

I've read literally dozens of threads on DU in the last 24 hours bashing Bill Clinton. You name it, he's been bashed. He's been bashed for speaking his mind to a reporter in Nevada. He's been criticized for nodding off during a ceremony today. Couple OPs brought up Lewinsky. Nafta is the only one that makes any sense.

Flash to the real legacy of Bill Clinton.

I don't know about obvious, but when the rest of the world observes a nation that gave huge tax cuts to extremely wealthy people who were extremely rich even BEFORE those tax cuts, and then went 10 trillion in debt as a result..well, it might just put them on, as we said in the sixties, a real economic bummer.

Compare to eight years before, when Al Gore was standing on a stage pleading for us to put the HUGE budget surplus in a lockbox, pay down the debt, save it.

In 2002 we went to war for 20 billion a year. In 2003 we went to war for 250 billion a year. The civilized world realized how dumb that was, also.

And as soon as there is even a hint of a tax increase to actually PAY for this profligate spending, the screaming starts! Fact is, the working class was prospering under Clinton's tax rates. The rich were still rich and the stock market was booming except for the dot coms which were trading on hype with no earnings whatsoever.

If you look at Friday's closing on Wall Street, the stock market has increased its value by less than 2.5% per year (APR) since Bush took over. We could of gone out and bout a bank CD from the EU at 4% APR minimum. It's pathetic.

No ones talking about it, but get ready for a deep recession. It's coming, and it's going to be painful.

Bash Clinton all you want, but in the end those years were good for us.

Big Dog Bites.

[emilyg]

1. Thank you.

[Radical Activist]

2. And after two years it was all gone.

I'd like the next Democratic President to be one who accomplishes enough to have a more lasting legacy.

[robbedvoter]

4. Yup. A coup wil do that.

[Bonobo]

3. You're right. He was very fiscally conservative.

Almost Republican in his fiscal conservativeness even.

[ShaneGR]

6. If balancing checkbooks is Republican

Then so be it.

[niceypoo]

19. Running up deficits is republican

[ProSense]

5. There were some good

and some awful results of Clinton's presidency.

[Hoof Hearted]

7. Good post. k&r n/t

[OHdem10]

8. Bill Clinton was a good president.

[suston96]

9. He was a great president. Greatness is measure by challenges which must be faced.

And Bill Clinton had some serious challenges during his presidency.

In addition to 3 balanced budgets and surpluses he made some payments on the national debt and left the presidency with a projected cumulative surplus of 5.8 trillion dollars for 10? years.....

....and with the highest exit rating since WWII.

[orleans]

10. if michelle obama went out saying shit about hillary i think people

would be really pissed off. bill does it about obama and people are really pissed off.

what was your point again?

[MisterGamut]

14. With all due respect

Michelle Obama is not a former president of the united States.

[orleans]

17. so when bill goes out it's like tag-teaming on everyone else

the balance is heavily weighted in hillary's favor

and that doesn't seem fair.

[question everything]

11. K&R (nt)

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. He was the greatest Republican President since Eisenhower.

Voted and worked for his campaign.
He left a stain on his legacy which I can't wash out,
no matter how many times I try.


I remember him speaking out about Global warming
I remember him speaking out about the war.
I remember him speaking out about voter intimidation and election fraud in
2000,2004 and 2006.


I remember him but his name was Al Gore

[scarletwoman]

13. I only bash him for NAFTA, for not pardoning Leonard Peltier, for his support of concentrated

ownership of the media, for his "Effective Death Penalty and Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996" which increased the power of the police state, For the Telecom Act, for his bombing of Yugoslavia, for his bombing of Iraq, and for his "triangulation" that pulled the Democratic way to the right. That's just my short list off the top of my head.

No, the Clinton years weren't "good for us", they set the stage for the bush years by enshrining corporatism as a bipartisan project.

Fuck Bill Clinton, and the reptiles he rode in on.

sw

[sandnsea]

15. Windows, Y2K and Al Gore's internet

Good years indeed.

Too bad Bill didn't tell the truth about the budget surplus so that people would support putting the FICA SURPLUS into Gore's lock box.

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. Having the truth as a relative term

Is one that has destroyed many relationships.

The man is one of the greatest politicians and could convince
most of us to question what "is" is, for a moment in time,until
he had his next love affair with us or who ever.

[niceypoo]

18. Always the right wing talking points

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us
to get along with those who do not possess it and that
takes a lot with your arguments.

[RiverStone]

20. On balance, Bill did a great job as Pres...

I'd happily vote for him again if it were possible.

I'd UNhappily vote for Hillary if that was my only choice of Dems. Easy to keep them separate from here.

[Tatiana]

22. NAFTA was a bad deal. But Clinton was good to me.

I went back to school and got a degree.

I moved from welfare to a (pretty well-paying) job.

I got to write my educational expenses off my taxes.

I bought a house.

I could pay all my bills and my credit card debt was next to nothing.

Health/life/dental/retirement was a standard benefits package when I was in the job market.

Yeah, things were much better for me in the '90s, no question.

[Scriptor Ignotus]

23. do you think he's getting bashed for no reason at all? - eom