Bill Clinton Options

[kimmytree]

What are your views on the former President?

What about his effect on the economy?

And what about the attacks on our country? Is he to blame?

Discuss.

(Wikipedia has some good info on him).

[*kryogenix*]

Bin Laden was pretty much offered to Clinton and he dropped the ball. Clinton helped out the North Korean nuclear program. Clinton lied under oath.

Actually, I don't know if Clinton had much to do with the economy. It was the dot com bubble inflating which brought the economy up. In fact, economists think that Clinton might have been responsible for the recession at the end and after his term. And if I recall correctly, it wasn't really a surplus, because the money was never really there.

Just offering some counter arguements. I voted for Clinton back in our elementary school mock elections. I don't like him so much anymore though.

[*mipadi*]

Bin Laden was pretty much offered to Clinton and he dropped the ball. Clinton helped out the North Korean nuclear program. Clinton lied under oath.

Several of these points are inaccurate or greatly exaggerated. Sure, Clinton lied about a personal issue he had no business being asked about. For comparison's sake, the Bush administration lied to the United Nations regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. I place that on a bit of a higher scale than lying about the Lewinsky scandal.

I don't know a whole lot about Bin Laden and Clinton, but what I've read about recently demonstrates how the Bush administration is getting clobbered so much on its mishandling of the war on Iraq that it's willing to do anything to point the finger somewhere else, which indicates to me an admission that its foreign policy is larged unplanned and, simply put, sucks.

[kimmytree]

Several of these points are inaccurate or greatly exaggerated. Sure, Clinton lied about a personal issue he had no business being asked about. For comparison's sake, the Bush administration lied to the United Nations regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. I place that on a bit of a higher scale than lying about the Lewinsky scandal.

I don't know a whole lot about Bin Laden and Clinton, but what I've read about recently demonstrates how the Bush administration is getting clobbered so much on its mishandling of the war on Iraq that it's willing to do anything to point the finger somewhere else, which indicates to me an admission that its foreign policy is larged unplanned and, simply put, sucks.

Ahhhhh THANK YOU. Very well said.
Who wouldnt try to cover up the fact that they cheated on their spouse? I know I would. He still shouldnt have lied about it though, but its not like it hurt anyone but himself.

I've heard so many different things about the whole Clinton had Osama thing. Republicans try to say that he let him go; but in reality, I dont think we actually had him. A Saudi civilian CLAIMED that he had Bin Laden / knew of his where abouts, and had numerous outrageous demands. Its not like the actual Saudi government had him... that'd be a totally different story.

Well, they used it to pay off some of the national debt. It still counts as a surplus.

Yep.

The Clinton presidency left America with record economic growth and prosperity:

- Average economic growth of 4.0 percent per year, compared to average growth of 2.8 percent during the previous years. The economy grew for 116 consecutive months, the most in history.
- Creation of more than 22.5 million jobs—the most jobs ever created under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous 12 years. Of the total new jobs, 20.7 million, or 92 percent, were in the private sector.
- Economic gains spurred an increase in family incomes for all Americans. Since 1993, real median family income increased by $6,338, from $42,612 in 1993 to $48,950 in 1999 (in 1999 dollars).
- Overall unemployment dropped to the lowest level in more than 30 years, down from 6.9 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 percent in January 2001. The unemployment rate was below 5 percent for 40 consecutive months. Unemployment for African Americans fell from 14.2 percent in 1992 to 7.3 percent in 2000, the lowest rate on record. Unemployment for Hispanics fell from 11.8 percent in October 1992 to 5.0 percent in 2000, also the lowest rate on record.
- Inflation dropped to its lowest rate since the Kennedy Administration, averaging 2.5 percent, and fell from 4.7 percent during the previous administration.
- The homeownership rate reached 67.7 percent near the end of the Clinton administration, the highest rate on record. In contrast, the homeownership rate fell from 65.6 percent in the first quarter of 1981 to 63.7 percent in the first quarter of 1993.
- The poverty rate also declined from 15.1 percent in 1993 to 11.8 percent in 1999, the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. This left 7 million fewer people in poverty than there were in 1993.
- The surplus in fiscal year 2000 was $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever.
- President Clinton reached across the aisle and worked with the Republican-led Congress to enact welfare reform. As a result, welfare rolls dropped dramatically and were the lowest since 1969. Between January 1993 and September of 1999, the number of welfare recipients dropped by 7.5 million (a 53 percent decline) to 6.6 million. In comparison, between 1981-1992, the number of welfare recipients increased by 2.5 million (a 22 percent increase) to 13.6 million people.