Read!
There must be a virus going around the tubes simultaneously affecting all the middle-aged leftists, because I’m seeing a spate of blog posts from people like me who are getting a little tired of the trashing of the Clinton years.
But while most of us have just been content to gnash our dentures and do Metamucil shots until we’re blind drunk on the floor singing the last verse of “Under the Bridge,” the Left Coaster took the time to review the facts of the case:
With Clinton Derangement Syndrome being all the rage in some parts of the internets, and with continued focus on the, um, “Bush-Clinton dynasty”, I thought it would be useful to take an objective look – albeit at a high-level – at the domestic policy record of the Clinton-Gore administration in the time period of 1993-2000. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to delve into the details here – so this post is just a quick review of the most significant (in my view) Bills, key initiatives, and the most important vetoes of President Clinton during those tumultuous years.
Please read the whole thing.
(via Tennessee Guerilla Women.)
7 Responses to “Read!”
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Jokerine says:
I really don’t understand the people living in the US trashing Clinton. I lived in the US for the first Clinton term and have since visited numerous times and the improvement of life in the US during Clintons terms and the decline of living standard after the term was over seem very obvious to me. Of course Clinton had aspects that were bad and worthy of criticism, but many of his policies and actions directly improved life for many people in the US. I don’t get it! I would vote for Rodham Clinton just to spite those whiny people, if I could vote.
Oh and its not an age thing, I am closer in age to the third Clinton, Chelsea, than to anyone else in the race.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:47 am EST -
Hazel Stone says:
Though Clintons are not evil incarnate, they certainly are conservative Dems who are responsible for some pretty loathsome stuff.
The Nation had something every issue that curled my hair during the Clinton Administration. Off the top of my head, hugely expanding wiretapping allowances for US citizens, sending CIA operatives to Indonesia to train the secret police how to put down democracy demonstartions, bombing the Sudan. This is not forgivable, IMO. That’s why HC scares me, not that she’s a woman. She seems even more aggressive (in the US military expansion and intervention sense) than BC.
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Chris says:
There’s a lot of stuff slotted in the positive side of Clinton’s ledger in that post that was enacted, in severely watered-down fashion, after intense pressure from activists. The California Desert Protection Act being an example with which I am intimately familiar. There are of course many others.
Sure, a lot of those tepid gains look like astonishing victories in the light of the hellish last 8 years. But that doesn’t make them astonishing victories. It just makes the last 8 years hellish.
I spent the Clinton years as a journalist and editor reporting on his administration’s actions. He was no progressive. He wasn’t even a liberal. Consigning him to the rosy glow of post-Bush soft-focus amnesia just ensures that liberal Democrats will let their guards down, again, when the Dems take the White House, just like they did when Bill won after 12 years of Reagan and Bush.
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Aunti Disestablishmentarian says:
Yeah, Clinton was a pretty good Republican president.
My concern is the huge amount we all (myself included) are investing in the Democratic contenders. If one of them manages to win the presidency, I fear we can only expect more democratic panderings (to whom? I ask), rather than the much needed re-calibration of economic and foreign policy.
I’m not suggesting a third party candidate is the way to go, but for my super progressive stance, I anticipate big disappointment when a Democratic president is v-e-r-y slow to address, let alone correct some of the disastrous and egregious mistakes of the past 7 years.
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The Ghost of Violet says:
I see no reason to think that Obama would be any less Republican-lite. The Black Agenda Report has been following him for years, and they consider Obama and Hillary to be twins. When you read his statements, his book, look at his positions, etc., any notion that he is more progressive than Hillary evaporates.
Edwards appears to be more progressive on some issues, but he doesn’t have a chance.
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Infidel says:
Draft Gore, and get Bono to be his running mate.
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siemprejulia says:
Be real. Gore would have to do what Clinton and Bush did – this is not a free coutnry. It is run by the huge corporations, which also means the war industry and the prison industrial complex.
You want change? Vote green.
You want justice? Let’s strike.
Until we shut down this country, nothing will change.
But most Americans don’t want to hear that, and keep believing in the fantasy of the leader who will save us.
WE are the leaders, and we can save ourselves.
