DBWI: Bill Clinton's fifth term

Well it happened. Bill Clinton has won the record, five terms in office. Any thoughts on how his fifth term is going thus far?
 
I'm nearly 40 and this guy has been president for nearly half my life. I can understand the Democrats not wanting to run anyone against him, but can't the Republicans or the Greens find someone with appeal? Where's the opposition?

It's like he's totally immune to scandal. Intern? Who cares. Sleeping with a celebrity diva? Who cares? Wife has a boyfriend? Who cares, she's a Senator, no wait, she's Secretary of State!

Okay, so we've only had one NINE month recession since he was elected. Okay, so he's created 45 million new jobs, and average pay for a middle class family has risen $17k after inflation.
Okay, so the federal debt is now under $2 trillion. The surplus is over $300 billion / year -- with Social Security and Medicare included.

Doesn't someone have SOMETHING bad to say about this guy?


Because I don't.
 
Actually, he's pretty sleazy when you get down to it. He came into office poor by Washington's standards (IIRC he was worth something in the six figures), and even with the constraints of office on him, he managed to turn 'blind' trust fund investments and his 'foundation' into an extended family fortune in the high two-figure millions if the estimates can be trusted. He's not above doing favours and a lot of his success in the Mideast and East Asia is down to selling out allies and spending US cash on slush funds.

Plus, there is his record on 'domestic security'. The economy isn't everything, much as he would love to believe that. I have problems with extended police rights to search and seizure of assets, federal e-mail snooping, and undercover activities in 'extremist' groups. Hell, I'm not even sure the whole 'World Trade Center Hijacking' plot was even real. And no, I am NOT a wingnut. It just came at too convenient a time, I'm sure he found it hard to resist the temptation to talk a half-assed plan by some dumb Islamist would-be terrorists into the next great global threat. Takes the eye off China and Enron and the dotcom bust (he couldn't know how benign the recession would eventually turn out, after all).

Nope, he's good, but he's not *nice*. Look at how he strongarmed the UN into effectively partitioning Iraq and clamping down on the south, even now that Hussein is finally dead. Look at his continuing support for the murderous Fatah thugs in what he calls the 'Palestinian success story'. Two-state solution my arse! though I hae to admit it's intreresting to see an armed dictatorship of radical, violent moderates oppressing ultranationalists for a change. Look at how he's pandering to the Chinese over Tibet and Taiwan. He didn't stand up to the Russians over Ossetia and left Iranian stooges in control of Afghanistan. And yes, I *do* buy the theory that he tacitly invited Tehran to invade. the Taleban were a bloody embarrassment to him. But guys, anyone recall that Bush (he ran in '00) wanted to engage them? He even had diplomatic contacts back when he was governor. That was another opportunity wasted.

With Clinton, it's his way or the highway. That's no way to run a democracy.
 
Actually, he's pretty sleazy when you get down to it. He came into office poor by Washington's standards (IIRC he was worth something in the six figures), and even with the constraints of office on him, he managed to turn 'blind' trust fund investments and his 'foundation' into an extended family fortune in the high two-figure millions if the estimates can be trusted. He's not above doing favours and a lot of his success in the Mideast and East Asia is down to selling out allies and spending US cash on slush funds.

Plus, there is his record on 'domestic security'. The economy isn't everything, much as he would love to believe that. I have problems with extended police rights to search and seizure of assets, federal e-mail snooping, and undercover activities in 'extremist' groups. Hell, I'm not even sure the whole 'World Trade Center Hijacking' plot was even real. And no, I am NOT a wingnut. It just came at too convenient a time, I'm sure he found it hard to resist the temptation to talk a half-assed plan by some dumb Islamist would-be terrorists into the next great global threat. Takes the eye off China and Enron and the dotcom bust (he couldn't know how benign the recession would eventually turn out, after all).

Nope, he's good, but he's not *nice*. Look at how he strongarmed the UN into effectively partitioning Iraq and clamping down on the south, even now that Hussein is finally dead. Look at his continuing support for the murderous Fatah thugs in what he calls the 'Palestinian success story'. Two-state solution my arse! though I hae to admit it's intreresting to see an armed dictatorship of radical, violent moderates oppressing ultranationalists for a change. Look at how he's pandering to the Chinese over Tibet and Taiwan. He didn't stand up to the Russians over Ossetia and left Iranian stooges in control of Afghanistan. And yes, I *do* buy the theory that he tacitly invited Tehran to invade. the Taleban were a bloody embarrassment to him. But guys, anyone recall that Bush (he ran in '00) wanted to engage them? He even had diplomatic contacts back when he was governor. That was another opportunity wasted.

With Clinton, it's his way or the highway. That's no way to run a democracy.
So what you're saying is that Clinton is a democrat who acts like a dictator?
 
So what you're saying is that Clinton is a democrat who acts like a dictator?

That's taking things to extremes. But I would say he's taking his cues from Nixon for political fair play and from the Reagan administration for financial integrity and honesty.

(OOC: this is pretty much Clinton as he is writ large - plus the idea of Hillary being SecState, I'm just assuming that without Bush to compare him to, this would be big deals)
 
That's taking things to extremes. But I would say he's taking his cues from Nixon for political fair play and from the Reagan administration for financial integrity and honesty.

(OOC: this is pretty much Clinton as he is writ large - plus the idea of Hillary being SecState, I'm just assuming that without Bush to compare him to, this would be big deals)
Oh, so your saying he's a liberal who governs like the worst of the conservatives. Well I can agree to that at least.
 
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