One of the worst kept secrets in America is the Republican Party's rank and file distaste for Bill Clinton. Some would call it hatred, but after seeing the Democrats' hatred of President Bush it is hard to justify such a claim. The main reason behind Republicans' distaste of Clinton is two-fold, one part being his personal moral corruption, the second being that he won two terms despite it. While I certainly abhor Clinton's sense of ethics, and his absolute disgrace of the Oval Office and the presidency, there is no denying that there were a few notable achievements during Clinton's two terms. As a matter of fact, I could easily argue that the presidency of Bill Clinton was simply an extension of the Reagan presidency.
Clinton's three greatest achievements were all Reagan platforms; NAFTA, Welfare Reform, and the balanced budget. NAFTA was first proposed by President Reagan than negotiated and agreed upon under Bush 41, Clinton simply signed it. Welfare Reform was also a Reagan proposal, and Dick Morris convinced Clinton that failure to sign it would jeopardize his reelection. Finally, the supply-side policies of the eighties led to the robust growth and surpluses in the nineties, Clinton was just fortunate to be sitting in office throughout it all. Without a Democrat in office, it is unlikely that NAFTA and Welfare Reform ever would have passed, for Clinton was able to garner support for these measures within his party that would be absent had George H.W. Bush still been in office. It took a Democrat to convince Democrats to go against their free trade and zero accountability slants.
Other than this, very little of significance occurred during Clinton's tenure. No major crisis or event challenged the nation, nor did he change the nation's course in any way. Unlike the current President Bush, who seeks to change the status quo, Clinton artfully rolled with the country's conservative current, able to claim credit for a Republican Congress' achievements. When history passes it's judgment on Clinton's eight years, it will regard them as insignificant, with the most memorable episode being the Lewinsky scandal which epitomized Clinton's overall moral bankruptcy. With a current president who has sought to reshape not just the country but the world, nary a passing thought will be paid to his predecessor's time in office.
To respond to Max's first comment, President Kennedy's infidelities aren't spoken of as much because Kennedy achieved much more in his three years than Clinton did in his eight. The defining moment of Kennedy's presidency was his great response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, whereas Clinton never really achieved anything and thus his defining moment is the Lewinsky scandal. There is simply nothing else to remember Clinton by, he didn't really achieve anything. And, as I stated in my post, those things he did accomplish were all parts of the Republican platform.
ReplyDeleteOh and the longest sustained economic growth was under Reagan in the eighties.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans pushing the Reagan legacy forward succeeded in getting them made into laws. Clinton was smart enough to latch onto them and take the credit.
ReplyDeleteThe New Deal programs were all Roosevelt's ideas, it was the Democratic congress that simply followed him. Roosevelt's greatness isn't found in his New Deal however, it's his leadership of the nation through WWII.
ReplyDeleteI gave Clinton for those three accomplishments, and I also credit him with being one of the few Democrats who was in line ideologically with the country, but the fact remains that Reagan and Republicans deserve the balance of the credit for those bills and the balanced budget. It is because of this, and the fact that nothing came out of his eight years that was really Clinton's and Clinton's alone, that he will be regarded as rather insignificant, along the lines of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.