- In reading this post from Bruce Reed the other day offering advice to Obama and the Democrats, while trumpeting Bill Clinton's political adjustments after the 1994 election, this thought kept occurring to me -- has there ever been a less consequential two-term president in the history of the United States than Bill Clinton? Seriously, what did he accomplish in his eight years? A balanced budget. That's something. There was prosperity on his watch -- but how much of that was ephemeral and how much of it was Clinton's doing? It seems to me that the neo-liberal policies that he embraced were not all that different from those of Reagan and Bush II -- oh they were the free market with a human face of sorts, but by and large he helped foster the bubble economy.
- In retrospect a good many of the mainstream media types have come to extol Clinton's virtues, although they weren't so keen on him when he was in office. (Not presiding over two recessions, two stock market collapses, two disastrous wars, one major city drowning, and the near collapse of the world financial system can make you look good by comparison.) This morning I heard some jackanapes on Morning Joe (ah, that could be any of them), talking about the virtues of things like the school uniform initiative and welfare reform, claiming that if Obama would just embrace some of these micro-initiatives it would add up to something big in the end. This is nonsense -- Clinton made a virtue of necessity post-1994 and was quite good at getting himself reelected. But that's about it. The sum and substance of his accomplishments, particularly from a liberal perspective, are close to zero. Obama seemed to have noticed this during the campaign and it clearly drove Bill batshit.
- On the other hand, just making a cursory listing of the disasters over which Bush 43 presided makes it clear that there is no way that this guy will be rehabilitated in our lifetimes.
- Oh how little I knew the truth of this line -- on July 14th last year, I wrote these words about Ted Kennedy under the heading "Indispensable People:" "I am pretty convinced that the absence or incapacity of certain people at key moments can change history. I worry that, with respect to health care reform, Ted Kennedy's illness could be one of those instances, which I find heartbreaking given his virtually lifelong devotion to the issue."
- Happy 37th anniversary to Roe v. Wade. May the Roberts Court be as protective of women's reproductive rights as they are of corporate speech. (I had a hard time writing that last bit with a straight face.) [The comments on this CNN article about the anniversary really capture the "reverence for life" that is, of course, at the heart of the anti-abortion movement -- I particularly like the one that says the "best known form of birth control is to keep your danged knees together." Isn't that precious.]
