What do you remember about Clinton?

[furrylitldevil]

Yesterday, during a political argument, my step-dad posed the question, "What is the one thing you remember about Clinton?" Obviously looking for the Monica reference, but I told him that what I remember is that when Clinton was in office, I was earning $13.50 an hour, when Bush got into the white house, I was laid off for 4 months and now make $2.50 less than I did.

So I thought I'd ask everybody, what do you remember about Clinton?

[Drifter]

1. I remember ...

not having to worry about my government.

Cheers
Drifter

[kalian]

5. Or about my job....

or whether the attorney general was snooping into my personal life.

[Dimsdale]

7. Clinton was the guy...

who was impeached for lying about a blowjob by Republicans who 2 years later would suddenly become so concerned about Saddam Hussein's WMD raining down on New York. I remember 24/7 Bill/Monica. I remember nothing about Iraq's direct threat to us.

[Danocrat]

2. I had a job

and could afford to go home for Christmas

[Yogi]

3. I remember

having a job.

[supercrash]

4. I rememeber...

20 million new jobs

Largest surpluses ever

Largest debt payment ever

Sell out to China

[leftofthedial]

6. I remember

not being worried about the survival of my country.

I remember having the three best jobs of my life. Since the Bush junta's coup, I've been laid off twice and now earn half what I did in January 2001.

I remember planning for the future decades out instead of next time bills are due.

I remember being able to travel most anywhere in the world.

I remember being proud instead of ashamed of my country.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. Having a good-paying job and being optimistic

my husband was optimisitic enough to start his own business. We bought propoerty, gave money to charity, and lived well.

I have been unemployed three times since Bush took office. Not that I blame him personally, but his economic policies are killing the American way of life. Pretty soon it will just be the mega-rich and the Walmart cashier.

[SharonAnn]

26. Well I do blame Bush personally, it's his policies that are

killing the American way of life.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

37. I think Bush is too stupid to have policies

however, his cabal is very well-versed at driving the economy into the ground, as many of them were involved with the Reagan and Bush I administrations.

[Maeve]

9. The rest of the world liked us better

And he helped broker a peace initiative, not a couple of wars.

[wryter2000]

10. It's trivial

But I remember the feeling of relief that we had a president who could talk in complete, intelligent English sentences.

Not everything I remember about Clinton is positive, though.

[blackcat77]

11. I remember...

...when shark attacks were the big story instead of stuff like airplanes possibly used as weapons or our food supply being endangered or our constiution being shredded.

The number one difference between then and now for me is that I feel like I have to keep checking the news websites all the time because I never know what's going to happen next.

Just three years ago, the holidays were a time of joy, not a time when you had to worry more about somebody trying to kill you.

[Jerseycoa]

12. I remember my 401K

Gone now.

[ParticipatoryDem]

13. I may be a job minority here but I'm making 5 dollars more an hour FWIW

The two things I remember most was the new restrictions on law abiding gun owners and his on-air statement: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". My only problem with him was the unneeded gun laws and the knee-jerk snowmobile ban in Yellowstone. Everything else was ok I guess.

[Bandit]

20. Do you remember Bush* saying I did not have financial relations with

that man Mr. Lay? Just curious how good your memory actually is.

[Speed8098]

23. What?!?!?!?

The two things I remember most was the new restrictions on law abiding gun owners and his on-air statement: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". My only problem with him was the unneeded gun laws and the knee-jerk snowmobile ban in Yellowstone. Everything else was ok I guess.

Did you make a wrong turn somewhere?

What about low interest loans to students?
What about the family leave act?
What about Benjamin Netanyahou shaking hands with Yassar Arafat for all the world to see?
All you remember are the negatives, when I could spend hours outlining the positives.

I'll never understand people like you.

Let me ask you, what difference does it make to you if Monica Lewinsky gave him a bj? I mean really. Who's effing business is it anyway?

I'm sick and tired of people referring to this sh*t.
I suppose you would come out and tell your spouse if you cheated, right?
No?

The infamous bj was between Bill, Hillary and Monica PERIOD.
It's just a damn shame that he was put in a position to defend an extremely private action. $50M of our money was spent and the results were........what? What were the results?? Nothing, that's what, a big fat nothing.

If you don't like the Big Dog, that's your prerogative, but you will not bash the man in my presence. :mad:

[are_we_united_yet]

33. Gee I remember W saying

Sixteen words that led to 400+ of our finest being killed

[liberalmuse]

14. I remember...

feeling secure that Clinton would not get us involved in WWIII. Believing that human beings were in the process of evolving instead of the opposite. I remember feeling pretty optimistic about my child's future. I remember being able to relax for long periods of time, because Clinton, not some evil f*ckwit, was in charge.

I remember hateful 'pubs besmirching Clinton's name every chance they got, even before the Monica thing, because they are petty, mean human beings. I will besmirch W's name--someone who REALLY deserves to be detested, as long as I draw breath--because he and his cabal are the most malevent force in the world today. I remember feeling dread at the 2000 election, knowing that the 'pubs would steal it, but thinking that I was probably being paranoid. HA!

[readmylips]

15. A bridge to the 21st Century...

Peace and Prosperity.

[bread_and_roses]

16. Cheering in the car

when I heard he'd lifted the ban against aid to international organizations providing birth controll information. The incredible feeling of relief when he was elected. A sense of possibility.

But also, the incomes of the lowest 5(?)% dropping, the mean-spirited and pandering "Welfare Reform" that has caused such hardship and pulled what tattered rug there was out from under low-wage jobs, his hypocritical stance on the "war on drugs" and failure to acknowledge the devastation it was causing in communities of color, the ever-increasing growth of the "prison-industrial" society, NAFTA, and so on.

I am no great fan of Clinton, and I begrudged having to constantly support him because of the never-ending assault from the neo-cons and their slavish media. But I admit, with Bush in office, he looks better by the day. Hour. Minute.

[Yupster]

17. An interesting side question?

What will President Clinton be remembered for 50 - 100 years from now?

No presidents are ever remembered for the economy, barring a Great Depression, so what will be the sentence or two in the textbook 50 years from now.

I kind of fault Clinton for being pretty much a caretaker. He realy didn't use his eight years for dramatic change.

[Bandit]

21. I think the Irish may disagree. Probably the Haitians also.

:shrug: He will go down in history as the President who worked harder for peace than any other. (Worked harder period) IMHO

[supercrash]

22. 50 - 100 years from now ?

I think we might be saying...

"The last fiscal surplus hasn't been seen since the Clinton Administration"

[Yupster]

41. If that turns out to be true,

we will have disappeared as a country long before 100 years from now.

[rumguy]

18. I remember a President who didn't use fear as a weapon

[webkev]

19. I remember..

being in Ireland at the time..
Clinton came over for a visit

over half of Dublin lined the streets in admiration

[Jeep29]

24. I remember...

...American troops being sent to Somalia for some reason that had no effect on American national security and many of them dying due to lack of support.

...American civilians being slaughtered at Waco by their own government.

[SharonAnn]

27. Didn't Bush I send the soldiers to Somalia?

Clinton just had to deal with the mess when he took office.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

36. Yes, Clinton had to clean up Bush I's Somalia mess and his recession

looks like a Dem in 2004 will have to clean up Jr.'s Iraq mess and his economic disaster.

[devilgrrl]

44. Zoinks! Looks like we have another...

[Kathy in Cambridge]

45. LOL-They're everywhere lately!

And so blatantly obvious...

[Piperay]

25. Hopefulness

that things were going to keep getting better and better:-), now all I feel is hopelessness. I sure miss the Big Dog. :cry:

[AnnabelLee]

28. This may sound very shallow

but what I remember is that I liked seeing him on TV, listening to him talk, watching how the crowds reacted to him. On more than one occasion when there were a couple of hecklers while he was giving a speech, he would say to them, "Alright, you've said your piece, now let me say mine". Imagine El Presidente doing that. Clinton always got such a genuinely warm reception when he was visiting another country. From time to time, another DUer will post a picture of Clinton; there's one in particular that was taken somewhere in Africa that shows him & Hillary surrounded by the smiling faces of ordinary citizens. A stark contrast to Commander Bunnypants; I cannot bear to see his face or hear his voice, all of his audiences are hand-picked, & he doesn't dare go out in public when he's in another country. Heck, he doesn't dare go out in public when he's in the US. Clinton, for all of his faults, was an excellent representative for us abroad. I am so extraordinarily saddened & ashamed at how low we have now sunk.

Of course, I also remember that my husband was making beaucoup bucks, we had excellent health insurance & were saving money, close to 3,000 people had not died at the WTC, & over 450 US soldiers were still alive. All of those things are a distant memory, now.:-(

[TankLV]

29. Peace. Hope. Prosperity. As far as the eyes could see.

The future was increadibly bright.

[eleny]

30. he won a second term and put the r's in white hot meltdown

[scottcsmith]

31. My Intel stock

...at $140 a share.

Now it's down to $30.

[are_we_united_yet]

32. I remember a President and an administration

that understood the complexities of the international community.

[camero]

34. I was makin 40k a year

with Bush, nada nothin.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

42. I was making 6 figures, now zippo

been laid off three times. I wish I had never experienced prosperity because now I'm angry.

[greendog]

35. Welfare Reform

Pulling the rug out from under defenseless people to deprive the Republicans of an issue. Merry Christmas to Bill Clinton and his mentor, Dick Morris.

[RBHam]

38. That he was compromised by the BFEE

And while he was pre-occupied with domestic issues, the bfee's black ops did an end run around his purview, and ran amok in the middle east, southeast asia and south america. the embargo on iraq, the continuing relations between the cia, the pakistani isi, the bin ladens, the house of saad and the taliban were ready to spread their poison, the cia's former mk ultra program was introduced to the christian right, the military industrial complex essentially carried george bush I's war on everything almost completely unnoticed, while the public were kept distracted with clinton's penis, monica's mouth, paula's nose, while spending all their dot com money on fantasy and frivolity...

it all stems from what was going on in Mena, Arkansas while Bush I was Prez and Clinton was the Guv. Barry Seal, Ollie North, laundering drug money to buy weapons to fund right wing death squads...

if you have the inclination, do a little research. be prepared to question everything you've ever taken for granted...

[2cents]

39. Embodiment of the American dream..

born poor - became president and admirably withstood undeserved persecution from the powers that be.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

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

[Bucky]

43. His 2000 State of the Union address

In the Washington administration, when the Republicans (Jefferson's followers) and the Federalist (Hamilton's followers) were at total loggerheads and attacking each other with such incredible fervor that many started to think that the Republic could not survive, George Washington was in the midst of preparing his state of the union address. All the parties were focusing both on attacking each other and bracing to see on which side of hte fierce partisan bickering President Washington was going to come down on. Some even feared he was going to resign and walk away from government service with more than a year left in his first term.

Instead Washington delivered a rousing table-thumping rah-rah optimistic address to Congress, extolling all the wonderful advantages and potentials facing their generation. When the conflicts seemed insurmountable, Washington essentially invented the bully pulpit and got everyone to focus on the nation's higher goals, its tremendous blessings, and the core visions and values that all Americans shared.

In 2000, Bill Clinton pulled off the same stunt. The country had all but torn itself apart in viscious partisan wrangling as bad as the old Federalist-Republican battles of the 1790s. When Clinton came to deliver his State of the Union address, he gave a rip-roaring rah-rah speech that reminded us all of how lucky we were to be living in the United States of America at the dawn of this century. He reaffirmed the best of us, reminded us of our challenges, and gave us all hope that even our worst problems were things that we could all work on together.

I should also mention that he didn't lie or pass along any dubious intelligence designed to lure us into a fabricated war.

Clinton, for all his faults, was a man with vision and a man who put the country first. He inspired all of us and never once suggested that his political opponents were unpatriotic. He gave speeches that spoke to everybody and had a crystal clear understanding of where we as a nation had to go. As much shit as they dumped on him, he never gave in to anger or reacted out of less than patriotic instincts.

He won't be remembered as a great president--he blew too many chances. But he will be remembered as someone who managed many of the opportunities before him and, more importantly, as someone who gave us all solid arguments for believing in hope and embracing the future.