NCAAbbs

Bill, that is.

In another thread Mach said he would defend the Clintons, and that set me to thinking about our 42nd President.

What were the primary accomplishments of his Presidency?

Now before you get in a lather about the economy, I would like to point out that the economic expansion of 1990-99 you want to mention started over two years before he took the oath of office and ended a year and a half before he left. He didn't cause it and the associated budget surplusses, he just takes (and gets) the credit. The most credit I will give him on that is that he didn't derail it, and only tried once.

Since none of you Clintonistas will agree with me on that, let's set it aside and concentrate on the other achievements of his presidency.

What are they? Bosnia, Somalia, missiles to the Sudan, the Cole, the WTC I?

If you take out the economy and leave out Lewinsky, what are the high points. Just wondering. What will history show?

Nor is this meant to be a slam at Bill - I like him personally and think he would be a lot of fun at a party. Nor does this this have anything to do with Bush. I'm not trying to make Bush look better by demeaning Bill and you shouldn't try the opposite. I'm just curious - what's left after you take away the economy?

His wife fixed the health care system like she promised...

I will give him credit for enacting welfare reform. He did a good job with Northern Ireland. He also made progress with the Israeli/Palestinian/Muslim problem. The offer he helped broker with Yasser Arafat illuminated the fact that the Palestinians and Muslims were not actually seeking peace but the destruction of Israel.
He had the good sense to work with the Republican Congress after their sweeping victory in 1994 and he signed into law most of the Contract with America.

Thanks. That is the kind of reasonable response I was hoping for.

Clinton also renominated Allen Greenspan to be Fed Chairman which allowed the economic growth to continue. For that he deserves credit.

ShoreBuc Wrote:Clinton also renominated Allen Greenspan to be Fed Chairman which allowed the economic growth to continue. For that he deserves credit.

+1

That's what I was thinking was his greatest achievement.

Wow,

Off the top of my head, I think his greatest achievement was financing our national debt in shorter T-Bills. Our country really made headway with the shorter interest rates. At the end of his term can you guys remember they did away with the 10 year treasuries. As a country we were well on our way of paying off the national debt. They even took down the bill board in New York that showed our national debt.

A book I read about Alan Greenspan talked about how Greenspan discussed with Clinton that we needed to balance the budget in order to bring down interest rates to keep the economy humming. Sounds like Clinton took that seriously. Obviously it wasn't all him, but he took the advice seriously which probably helped sustain the growth for a while.