I Regret Not Appreciating Bill Clinton More - Page 2

Speaking about the last few Presidents and their scandals, why do you think the public at large is pretty apathetic about all the almost comically criminal things this administrations does on a near daily basis? I mean, the public couldn't get enough of Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the fact that the leader of the free world committed adultery and tried to dodge the question (also, his dodge utilized what people in my field call the "is of identity", which was intellectually impressive) but they just don't seem to care about this administration taking the Imperial Presidency concept beyond even Nixonian levels and shredding their rights right and left.

Because, I imagine, the workings of the constitution are murky at best to the average American, but a back-door blowjob is sound-bite friendly.

That, and 9/11 turned us into a bunch of shrieking, sniveling wimps scared pantsless by the LOOMING TERRORIST MUSHROOM CLOUD OF DOOM.

Oh Lord, here we go with the Reagan worship again. Jesus fuck, I hate this shit. Yeah, the man sped up the end of the end of the cold war somewhat. But the USSR was a crumbling mass of crap by the 70s. The only way it was a real threat at that point was if its leaders had gone suicidally insane and decided to take the US down with it--a possibility that Reagan seemed to be doing everything in his power to hasten.

Meanwhile, to protect us from this "threat", he got the US into massive debt, locked the western world into a downward spiral of dependency on weapons manufacturers, got the Republican party into bed with crazy religious fundamentalists, and funded and supported the very people who Bush has spent his presidency fighting. That would be Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, for those of you in the cheap seats. He also pushed through an utterly retarded, self-absorbed, and dumbed-down version of trickle-down economics that was just a naked excuse for the wealthy to stop contributing to society. The end result of all this was an economic depression that Clinton helped bring us out of. I don't consider Clinton to be a particularly great president, but if there was one thing he knew how to do it was support the American standard of living, and the economy was part of that. He did luck out in some ways, but to say that it was all Reagan's doing is nonsense.

Few things make me laugh harder that this idea that Dubya has betrayed the principles of Ronald Reagan. Dubya's leadership style is an almost direct continuation of the Reagan and Bush I philosophy--Bush just isn't the salesman that Reagan was, and the enemy is of a sort that is a lot less susceptable to throwing money at weapons makers.

What he said.

I have to say, though, that the Clinton I liked best was the post-term Bill who would be interviewed and say things without seeming to be wary of any political implications. Straight-talk, indeed. But now that his wife is running for Prez, in the times I've seen him on TV, he's back to doing what politicians typically do--saying a lot without actually saying much of anything.

By the way, Clinton comes off very well in Alan Greenspan's new book (perhaps not unsurprisingly). Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and II don't get off quite that easy.

Sorry, but I can't really give much weight to the rhetoric of someone who was 3 years old and Canadian when Reagan took office.

Well, I was a young man serving in the United States Navy when Reagan was President. Am I allowed an opinion?

Surely age and nationality aren't barriers to reading history books.

It could be worse, we had a guy who spoke out of the side of his face in some kind of.. gutteral mish-mash of noise and hot air that couldn't be understood by people from either of our national languages.

I remember watching Bobby and listening to the clips of his speeches in total awe.. "So THIS is what a good leader sounds like.."

Only if Surge says you can.

RFK has always been a difficult figure for me to wrap my head around. Sure, he was one the side of justice towards the latter part of his career (The Civil Rights Movement, La Raza, and Vietnam). However, his beginnings as a figure in the Red Scare has always troubled me. Was it that he really gave a shit about other people and the concept of justice and just picked the wrong side during one moment in history or are all those powerful speeches aimed at the worries of the nation just acts of supreme sophistry? You want to give him the benefit of the doubt but--to my knowledge--the guy never seemed to regret his actions during the 1950s very much.

This is so retarded I don't know why I'm bothering to reply, but I am capable of reading. I read about stuff that affects me. American politics affect me. The history of American politics affects me. Therefore, I read about them. But don't worry, I'll be sure to ignore any opinions of yours about stuff that happened in another country before 1970.

By your logic, most of the people deifying Reagan were too young to have a serious grasp of politics when he was in power (including yourself). The real criticism is coming from the people who were actually around to observe his presidency.

I'm reminded of that great TR quote about public life:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
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RK climbed into the arena, made his calls, and took his lumps. Do you expect him to have gone on the Tonight Show and weep about the mistakes he made during the Red Scare?

Comparatively, I long for the Clinton days too, but he was not a very good President. Just like his wife, he hardly ever took a hard stance on any issue and often backtracked on any position that got a lot of controversy. He also passed some legislation that did a disservice to the community he was supposed to be protecting (e.g., welfare policies). However, he was likable and he made you trust him. There is something about his attitude and mannerisms that people find comforting.