BartCop's most recent rants - brew-response-from-ben.htm

Hi The Daily Brew,

There's a few things I think you should take into consideration before proclaiming that Clinton had it so much better off than Obama. You said:

>To begin, Clinton had much better field position when he came into office.
>There is simply no comparison between the mess that Bush the Lesser left
>Obama and the mess Bush the Smarter left Clinton.

Really? Found on http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Clinton.html are the following facts:

"First, when Clinton won the White House, the federal budget deficit was at a historic high of $290 billion, 10 million Americans were out of work and the nation's economic growth rate under the outgoing Republican administration was the lowest in more than half a century. Clinton introduced his controversial economic plan that raised the income taxes of the richest 1.4 percent of Americans. We immediately heard from the Gloom and Doom congressional Republicans, every one of whom voted against the Clinton plan. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, announced, "This tax bill is a one-way ticket to a recession." House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich predicted, "This is the Democrat machine's recession, and each one of them will be held personally accountable."

Haven't I read this headline somewhere before? Isn't this essentially the exact same story today just a decade and a half later? Historic deficit when coming into office, a devastated economy, an abysmal job market. In the interest of fairness you said:

>On the home front, no matter how bad the economy was in 1993, it was ten times worse in 2009.

But I thought there was simply no comparison? You can absolutely make a comparison, but by your definition it's a matter of magnitude. So despite "the federal budget deficit was at a historic high of $290 billion, 10 million Americans were out of work and the nation's economic growth rate under the outgoing Republican administration was the lowest in more than half a century" there's "simply no comparison"? If it was the worst ever then, and it's the worst ever now, what's the difference?

You went on to write:

>Bitch and moan all you want about what is in the bill, but it is still the single largest social program that has been
>written into law since LBJ. Obama also passed Wall Street reform, which created, for the first time in history,
>an office to protect consumers from the banks. Clinton? He passed NAFTA and the Brady bill.

Rebuttal, again quoted from http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Clinton.html:

"What followed is unarguable: creation of more than 22 million new jobs; the nation's lowest unemployment rate in 30 years; the lowest unemployment rate among women in 40 years; and the lowest Hispanic and African-American unemployment rate in history. The nation went from the largest budget deficits in history to the largest budget surpluses in history, while the average family's income went up more than $5,000."

Your argument seems to rest on "the fact that Obama has been dealt the worst hand of any president in the modern era". Clinton was equally dealt "the worst hand of any president in the modern era". Difference? Clinton correctly taxed the richest of wage-earners and America entered an economic golden age, putting more food on American tables, higher wages for American families, and creating tens of millions of jobs. He was then the first Democrat since FDR to get re-elected to a second term because of it. In 1996, 3 out of 4 voters believed the country was better off then when Clinton entered office. Meanwhile Obama comes out today and promises that if he hasn't surrendered to Republicans on enough issues, that he'll do it faster/better in the future. As of today via CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/30/obama.congressional.leaders/index.html

Does this not make you totally upset? Are you happy when Obama promises greater collaboration with people who didn't vote for his Healthcare Bill? You seem focused on the fact that Obama passed [an incredibly watered down yet still got no Republican votes] Healthcare Bill when Bill Clinton was busy being the most effective President in Modern American History (history buffs can argue that topic to death, I only care about Presidents I've been alive for). Clinton grew America into what Fortune Magazine called "The Greatest Economy in the History of the World". But he didn't get that Healthcare Bill passed. What an asshole.

Also a sidenote: Clinton acted on over 96% of his campaign promises in his first 2 years. With Obama we've got Guantanamo Bay still open for business (no answer on when they're going to address that). Americans are still dying in Iraq, even though "they're not really in combat". We've escalated the war in Afghanistan, now running longer than Vietnam. America can still hold onto prisoners in foreign detention centers indefinitely without trial, and that's just off the top of my head. Clinton worked tooth and nail to address his campaign promises. Obama's too worried about people liking him.

>So, in conclusion, (the crowd does the wave) by every possible measure, passing legislation,
>holding on to power in Congress, and maintaining a re-electable approval rating, the FACTS show

>that Obama is BEATING Clinton.

You love talking about the facts, but you can't seem to connect them to reality very well. I miss having Papa Bear in office. He actually took care of his cubs.

Sincerely,

Ben in AZ