Clinton's policies were inspired by Reagan.

[Cascadian]

Bill Clinton may have been a Democratic president, but when you look closely at some of his policies, some of them were right of the Reagan playbook. Clinton played a part in ending "big government" as we know it, welfare to work laws, free-trade, tax cuts, bombing Serbia, three strikes you're out just to name a few. Clinton was instrumental in bringing the Democratic Party close to Reagan Lite.

Sure there will be those of you who will scoff at my comments and yes Clinton had some good qualities. He did balance the budget, the largest peacetime economic expansion in history and we had peace but there were some things that were left undone. Universal health care, decriminalizing marijuana, a living wage for people, and helping people get out of poverty. I honestly think Clinton could have done all of his achievements without being Republican Lite.

To those who think the Democrats can continue with playing the centrist-near right card, they are going to be in for a shock. The only person who could have effectively pull it off was Bill Clinton. I do not think nobody else, not even John Kerry will be able to do what Clinton could.

John

[NNadir]

1. Yeah, Clinton financed his government with extreme debt; he worked

to overturn Roe vs. Wade; financed death squads with illegal diversion of money; laid flowers on the graves of Nazis; intervened in foreign countries for ideological reasons. He appointed people like Renquist to the Chief Justice role and associate Justices like Robert Bork (thankfully not confirmed) and Nazi relgious bigots like Antonin Scalia to the court.

Of course, of all the items I'd guess that the marijuana part is the most important to you, which is hardly surprising. You must be high.

[FleshCartoon]

7. Some very good points.

I don't think I could have said it better myself. :yourock:

Oh, and don't forget--Reagan ignored the AIDS epidemic because he just didn't care if those "faggots" died.

[NNadir]

20. Oh, I think you might say it better. Try... n/t

[FleshCartoon]

21. I think I'll refrain...

...from being my typical bitchy self here on DU. LOL.

[mot78]

2. Well, if it wasn't for Reagan's Electoral sucesses, there wouldn' be a DLC

[Cascadian]

4. That's what I am talking about.

Some Democrats decided that it was better to "go along" to "get along". Sure it may have worked when Clinton was president but come on. It is a different world and Clinton is not running for anything. People are poorer than they were five years ago and they need help. You are not going to solve problems by imitating the Republicans and going along with things like free trade. The Democrats must stop playing the DLC card and move back to a more progressive platform.


John

[dogman]

3. All while the RW labeled him as a lefty.

That is symbolic of Reagan's mastery of the media. Clinton was lucky to come out of it alive with the demonization by the right.

[Cascadian]

5. What is really sad is that they still bash him.

And Clinton has been out of office for almost four years.

John

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Yep. Michael Moore talked about some of this in

"Stupid White Men".

[Cascadian]

8. So you know what I am talking about.

eom

John

[Cascadian]

9. Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine.

The question remains....

Why didn't Clinton reinstate this? There is another bone I have to pick with Clinton on.


John

[freetobegay]

10. You contrdict yourself

First you say Clinton is a Reagan lite, then you go on to say what he did good. There is a big difference between being a centrist & being a right wing conservative. Unless of course your a liberal & want to smear Centrist's in unfounded statements.

[Cascadian]

12. I never contradicted myself.

Clinton had his good points but being politically left of center, I think he could have done more than he did and he did not have to copy the Repoublicans to achive it.


John

[freetobegay]

13. If he copied the Republicans then he would not have accomplished anything.

[Cascadian]

14. He did use some of the Reagan playbook.

n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Really? Did Clinton deal with terrorists?

I missed that.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cascadian]

16. Aw.....WRONG!

What makes you think I am a Republican? What you are implying IS the real crock. My politics are left of center. Further left of Clinton and Reagan.


John

[DerekG]

23. Cascadian is NOT a republican...

Judging by your vitriolic response to her tempered posts, I'd say you are the true reactionary in this discussion, amen1234. Not everyone who chips away at the altar of St. Bill is a troll.

[Cascadian]

24. Thank you.

Anybody who knows me on these boards knows I am to the left and not afraid of questioning the motives of DLC Democrats and their policies.


John

[Andromeda]

17. The only way for any Democrat

to be elected is if he/she governs from the center NOT the far left. Most people in this country are moderate whether you like it or not and will not elect an extremist president (with the exception of Bush II and he lied about being a "compassionate conservative" among other things, just to get elected.)

The majority of people in this country aren't religious whackos, anti-war peaceniks or hippy dippy weirdos who disdain free trade and capitalism. Most people are somewhere in the middle who believe war should be a last resort but approve of America defending herself against attackers and protecting groups of people who are being purged because of their ethnicity as in Kosovo.

Clinton was NOT Reagan Lite -- he was centrist not center-right and had to work with a Republican Congress that would not give him any breaks, who hated him vehemently and plotted to impeach him even before he took the oath of office. Read Joe Conason and Gene Lyon's "The Hunting of the President."

Clinton did raise the minimum wage in addition to creating 22 million news jobs, the most jobs ever created in any administration, tried to get healthcare passed and got shot down within his first year of office.

http://www.issues2000.org/Celeb/Bill_Clinton_Jobs.htm

Any attempt on Bill Clinton's part to actively participate in a movement to decriminalize marijuana would have been political suicide. When he attempted to tackle the gays in the military issue he got so much opposition he had to settle for "don't ask, don't tell."

Clinton was not a Washington insider when he took office but Kerry is and knows how things get done in the Senate and that should be an advantage for him. John Kerry will do things in his own way and might accomplish even more than Bill Clinton was able to do.

[Cascadian]

18. If this is the case...

this country is going to go nowhere. Democracy will be considered a joke. The Republicans and neocons have bashed the "L" (liberal) word for so long that I regret many Democrats believe it. That is truly sad.


John

[Eric J in MN]

19. What did Clinton have to do with three-strikes-and-you're-out? nt

nt

[AP]

22. Aburd. Clinton didn't want a small gov't for the same reason Repubs wanted

small gov't. Repubs wanted it to make sure the gov't couldn't do anything to level the playing field (to interfere with the corporatocracy).

Clinton felt he could take the argument for small gov't out of the Republican arsenal of anti-Democratic weapons if he reduced the size of the gov't by reducing waste, while protecting the ability of the gov't to protect individuals from the corporotocracy.

He wanted to do just as much (if not more) with less. Which made him much different from Republicans.

If you think Clinton wanted to be like Reagan, you just need to look at how dramatically America has changed under Bush. If Clinton was so much like Reagan, America wouldn't have changed so dramatically in four years. Duh.

As for welfare -- Clinton was hard on welfare, but he was harder on the causes of welfare. He put people to work and raised salaries as % of GDP. He increased wealth for people who didn't have much.

Tax cuts? He made them more progressive in his first adminstration. The worst damage to the tax code in his eight years were done in the last four, and Clinton tried to stop them. But the tax code is where Republicans fight their hardest. Clinton also had some assholes in his Treasury Department, and had an asshole for a Vice President, who always sided with big busines.

OK. Clinton COULD have done better. But he did pretty well. And, as I said, I think the dramatic changes in the last four years prove he wasn't Republicans lite.

[mountainvue]

25. You seem

to forget that Clinton was dealing with a Republican Congress.

[John_H]

26. Only in the wet dreams of Freepers and the babblings of cretins.

[sandnsea]

27. Clinton was a master salesman

The tax cuts were tax hikes on the wealthy. Welfare to work implemented day care, health care to working families, and job training while on welfare. These are things moms had wanted for a while and hadn't been able to get until Clinton changed the name of the idea "welfare to work". It's not a perfect system, but it has helped working women with day care and health care for their kids. He did expand trade, but he also invested in technology in this country so better paying jobs would be created here at the same time. His trade plan was fine, as long as both parts are there. He should have foreseen what would happen if Republicans ever got in control. Alot of what Clinton did could have just as easily been packaged to sell to liberals, he just snuck them under the radar by packaging them to sell to Republicans instead.