"Hillary and The Clinton Legacy" (Clinton initiatives are now part of the problems we face)

[mod mom]

Hillary and The Clinton Legacy

ROBERT L. BOROSAGE
Posted December 14, 2007 | 01:21 PM (EST)

"We know how to do this," Hillary Clinton says on the campaign trail, "we've been here before." Clinton argues she represents both the "experience and the change," but from the campaign's beginning, she has presented herself as a restoration, offering a way back to the sun-filled years of peace and prosperity of her husband's presidency.


That she's benefited from her husbands' political legacy goes without saying, but what is striking is how irrelevant -- if not simply wrong-headed -- his policy legacy is to the challenges we now face.

The Clinton years gain luster in contrast to the foul catastrophes of Bush misrule. Hillary has benefited greatly from the experienced political team, the money and machinery put together in those years. She's inherited widespread support among African Americans and working families, who remember the rising wages and high employment of the last years of Clinton (before the dot.com bust). Her husband is a beloved, if yet undisciplined, surrogate on the campaign trail. Each Bush debacle reinforces her claim that "we can make this work again."

But the signature initiatives of the Clinton years -- NAFTA and the corporate trading world, budget surpluses, repealing welfare, posing tough on crime, reducing the size of government, proclaiming the "era of big government is over" -- are part of the problems, not part of the solutions that the next president must face. And as a candidate, Hillary has had to distance herself from many of her husband's core policies.

-snip

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/hillary...

[rinsd]

1. Budget surpluses & reducing inefficient government is part of the problem?

[wyldwolf]

2. Only in the "progressive"* alternate reality

[mod mom]

3. read the article:

Corporate trade accords and deregulation of capital and banking were a centerpiece of Rubinomics, the Clinton economic policy of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. But banking deregulation contributed directly to the mortgage and credit crisis. Unsustainable global deficits have decimated U.S. industry and undermined the dollar. Our economy is dependent on the "kindness of strangers," primarily Chinese and Japanese central bankers. Wages are stagnant; health care and pension promises are being abandoned.

[mod mom]

5. here's more:

Clinton celebrated the decline in the size of government, with his "reinventing government" looking for ways to privatize and outsource federal work. The results wasted billions, reduced government efficiency, and set the stage for Halliburton's plunder and Blackstone's crimes.

[wyldwolf]

6. I did

22 million new jobs and lowering poverty were a centerpiece of Rubinomics, too.

[mod mom]

8. You pick and choose in a way reminiscent of Cheney selecting intel to go to war.

[wyldwolf]

11. no, I could give you a list a mile long. However, you appear to be the pick and choose pro

[rinsd]

14. yes because your pick and choosing is some much better.

Ever think that one was offered to counter the relentless negativity of the other.

[MGKrebs]

36. What a horrible thing to say.

[rinsd]

7. I did.

I still fail to see how balanced budgets and reduced poverty levels are somehow bad things.

[Adelante]

20. I've been waiting for this one

"banking deregulation contributed directly to the mortgage and credit crisis"

Clinton's not the only candidate who will get kicked by it. Others of our candidates voted for it and actively supported it.

[blm]

4. Protecting BushInc throughout the 90s was helpful to this nation in the long run?

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

Are you pleased that Reagan and Bush's legacies have been rewritten and that BushInc was allowed to grow STRONGER in the 90s to produce Bush2 and lead us straight into 9-11 and this Iraq war?

[Whisp]

9. tag teaming the destruction of Iraq since Bush Senior.

what a legacy. what a baton to pass on.
Do I think Hillary will keep running with it? Yes, yes, and yep. Track record is there for all to see.

and let's not even talk about East Timor.

[mod mom]

13. I heard Amy Goodman speak on East Timor.

There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Folks were openly sobbing. :sad:

[antigop]

10. So why is it you never get an answer to your question, blm? n/t

[Whisp]

44. kicking this for blm's posts. which everyone seems to want to ignore. nt

[sandnsea]

15. The disengenuous budget surpluses

They were created by boomers excess FICA which was planned in the 80's and was supposed to pay down debt so we wouldn't face a social security gap in future years. Since Clinton didn't tell the truth about that, which allowed Bush to give it all away in tax cuts, Hillary has a more difficult time telling the truth about the future of social security. They could have fixed it, but started talking about privatization instead. Yes Bill Clinton did.

[Sparkly]

34. Wow.

There was a tax increase on the top 2% -- which Republicans like to call the "biggest tax increase in history!"

The truth was told about it, and there's nothing disingenuous.

[sandnsea]

39. The surplus was FICA

and if you don't know that you better go do some more research.

[oasis]

12. If the truth be told, the only thing wrong with Bill Clinton was that he was limited

to only two terms as our president.

[sandnsea]

16. He'd have gone to war in Iraq too n/t

[oasis]

17. Fact: Bill Clinton was a source of frustration for the neocons. (eom)

[sandnsea]

19. Pssht

The only reason he didn't go to war in the 90's was because he couldn't find an international rationale. 9/11 gave them all that rationale. How many times did the Clintons give the neocons a pass by saying they were all using the same intelligence. Where are they on the DSM? Who do you think is writing the script in Congress keeping impeachment from going forward, or not making any real case against Bush. Take your blinders off. Put it all together. The Clintons are Zell Miller Democrats.

[blm]

40. Clinton would have gone into Iraq in 1998 IF the allies would go with him. They declined

and he did not want to go in without them.

Big difference. I'm glad he made the choice, but let's not pretend he would never have done it at all.

[oasis]

41. The fact remains that Pres. Clinton did not go to war with Iraq. A weak re-writing of history

should never taint the integrity of such a fine reseacher as yourself.

[blm]

43. I agreed with Bill's final decision to NOT invade Iraq, but any good researcher knows that

he WOULD have gone in if his REQUEST to the allies would have been met POSITIVELY.

The allies DID NOT wish to invade at that point and Bill Clinton would not carry out his proposed attack without them.

[antigop]

18. The Clinton legacy...putting the nail in the coffin of Glass-Steagall

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstree...

Oct.-Nov. 1999
Congress passes Financial Services Modernization Act

After 12 attempts in 25 years, Congress finally repeals Glass-Steagall, rewarding financial companies for more than 20 years and $300 million worth of lobbying efforts. Supporters hail the change as the long-overdue demise of a Depression-era relic.

On Oct. 21, with the House-Senate conference committee deadlocked after marathon negotiations, the main sticking point is partisan bickering over the bill's effect on the Community Reinvestment Act, which sets rules for lending to poor communities. Sandy Weill calls President Clinton in the evening to try to break the deadlock after Senator Phil Gramm, chairman of the Banking Committee, warned Citigroup lobbyist Roger Levy that Weill has to get White House moving on the bill or he would shut down the House-Senate conference. Serious negotiations resume, and a deal is announced at 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 22. Whether Weill made any difference in precipitating a deal is unclear.

On Oct. 22, Weill and John Reed issue a statement congratulating Congress and President Clinton, including 19 administration officials and lawmakers by name. The House and Senate approve a final version of the bill on Nov. 4, and Clinton signs it into law later that month.

Just days after the administration (including the Treasury Department) agrees to support the repeal, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the former co-chairman of a major Wall Street investment bank, Goldman Sachs, raises eyebrows by accepting a top job at Citigroup as Weill's chief lieutenant. The previous year, Weill had called Secretary Rubin to give him advance notice of the upcoming merger announcement. When Weill told Rubin he had some important news, the secretary reportedly quipped, "You're buying the government?"

<edit> added link

[Adelante]

21. I've posted that many times

It's a heartbreaker to read it and look at where we are today. Edwards was on the banking committee then, and with his current platform plus the subprime mortgage failures, he might take a hit if this finally gets media attention.

[antigop]

23. Ahem,,,,,,Clinton signed it into law n/t

[Adelante]

25. Bill Clinton signed it into law

And Hillary Clinton can say, see those other guys over there? They voted for it. I didn't.

I'm not a Clinton supporter, but I don't see her going down alone on this one.

[antigop]

26. What part of the OP don't you understand? And you didn't answer my question. n/t

[Adelante]

28. I'll leave it to her supporters to answer your question

I understand the OP perfectly. It cannot be contained to Hillary Clinton despite wishful thinking on your part. What part of that don't you understand?

[antigop]

29. The OP is HILLARY AND THE CLINTON legacy. I'm sorry if you don't understand the OP. n/t

[Adelante]

30. WHAT POST DID I RESPOND TO??

"The Clinton legacy...putting the nail in the coffin of Glass-Steagall"

[antigop]

31. Yep. The Clinton legacy and the OP is HILLARY AND THE CLINTON LEGACY. GEEZ! n/t

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

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

[antigop]

33. Ah, yes. Attack the messenger. Divert. Attack. n/t

[Sparkly]

35. I think WesDem made her point.

[antigop]

38. HA! No WesDem didn't.

<edit to add> He/she made have made some point, but it wasn't in reference to what I posted and what the OP is.

[antigop]

24. OP title: Hillary and the Clinton legacy(Clinton initiatives are now part of the problems we face)

So how much money are these same groups throwing at (s)Hillary?

[ronnykmarshall]

22. Huffington Post has a NEGATIVE Clinton article!

[Franc_Lee]

27. This is why Hillary is coming in third in Iowa...

[Evergreen Emerald]

37. It's all Clinton's fault

oh brother.

[oasis]

42. No wonder Rush Limbaugh visits DU so often. He probably find half of his material here.(eom)