The Clinton Record, Re-examined

As Bill Clinton makes a fool out of himself attacking Barack Obama, embarrassing his wife and injecting racial tension into the Democratic nomination fight, it might be a good idea to re-examine his record as president.

Of course, he will best be known as the guy who had sex in the Oval Office with an intern. While Republicans may have overreached when they voted to impeach him for such an indiscretion, it is a fireable offense in many places, including the military and in top corporations.

Less noted are Clinton’s aggressive efforts to dismantle our intelligence capabilities and sharply slash our national defense budget. Clinton called this the peace dividend. Clinton’s antipathy to the military, stretching back to his efforts to evade the draft, was legendary. He relished slashing its budget, but he also relished injecting it into places like Somalia without the proper support or the right mission.

Clinton signed the welfare reform bill and then tried to take credit for it. But let’s not kid ourselves. Republicans jammed that bill down his throat, and he signed it after vetoing it twice and only because he knew it would ensure his reelection.

Talking about reelection, Clinton beat one of the nicest guys — but one of the weakest presidential campaigns — that the Republicans ever put forward. Bob Dole actually said that he wanted to build a bridge to the past, in contrast to Clinton’s bridge to the future. Not hard to run against that.

Today Clinton gets credit for balancing the budget, but he deserves none. Before Republicans took control, Clinton’s budgets promised $200 billion deficits for decades. It was Republicans who actually passed a budget that promised to cut spending. At the end of the day, it was the economy and welfare reform that balanced the budget, not Bill Clinton.

Clinton (and his wife) failed to improve healthcare. He did nothing to improve education. He resisted tax relief and pushed hard for the largest tax increase in history, which increased taxes on everybody, especially senior citizens.

Clinton gets some credit for passing free trade agreements, such as free trade with China, but he did that mostly with Republican votes.

Bill Clinton is a self-consumed egomaniac who wants his wife to win because he thinks it will make him look good. If he becomes the First Laddie, America will have to endure the kind of gossip that will make the Paris Hilton set blush. For Clinton, it has never been about the American people. It is all about Bill Clinton. Can’t we close this sordid chapter of American history once and for all?