BILL CLINTON (PART 2)
Election of 1996: With the economy recovering, Clinton’s chances at re-election were considerably better than it had been two years earlier when the Republicans took back both the House and Senate. As such, Clinton and Gore won renomination with no real push back.
On the Republican side, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole had the inside track to the nomination, but he did have some challengers, such as maverick businessman Steve Forbes who introduced his flat tax proposal. For about fifteen minutes Forbes was almost as popular as President Clinton with the young, but he never did indicate whether he wore boxers or briefs. He also had less serious competition from Former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander and the always controversial Pat Buchannan. Nevertheless, when the Convention hit the stage in San Diego, Dole had the delegates and he was all but anointed, the highlight being a speech by wife Elizabeth Dole, who came off as a conservative Phil Donahue.
Dole was behind in the general election from the start and another third party bid from Ross Perot didn’t help. Perot didn’t have the same clout that he had in 1992 and ended up with less the half the vote he received in 1992. Still, he would be a factor.
The campaign itself was a bit exaggerated though not especially smear worthy as Clinton warned that Dole would do away with Social Security and Dole jumped on Clinton’s personal flaws, promising the Republicans would make life miserable for him if he were re-elected. Needless to say, that wasn’t a good strategy and while Dole played up his World War Two record (He would be the last candidate to have served in World War II), it didn’t make up for his occasional gaffes and his tendency to be a bit too blunt, even bordering on mean. And, despite the one good idea the ticket came up with (VP Candidate Jack Kemp’s Urban Enterprise Zones, something he came up with after the LA riots in 1992), Clinton had no problem winning re-election.
But Dole kept his promise because, for the next four years, the Republicans would make Clinton’s life a living hell.
Second Term: The Newt Gingrich led Republicans began their war on Clinton as soon as he was inaugurated a second time. The Senate voted unanimously to investigate some fund raising discrepancies from the Clintons primarily but also from some members of Congress. Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr was investigating the Whitewater scandal. On top of that, Clinton was being sued for sexual harassment by former Arkansas State Employee, Paula Jones, who had the backing of Republicans basically out to get Clinton. They even paid for her nose job to make her look more sympathetic, but she couldn’t prove anything had happened and the judge would summarily dismiss the case. In retrospect, Jones was victimized twice, once by Clinton, who did indeed sexually harass her, (this was exposed during the Lewinsky affair), and by the Republican groups that exploited her in their zeal to destroy Clinton.
So, while Hillary Clinton (who likely had one eye on her own political ambitions by now), was complaining about the right wing conspiracy, a new scandal erupted. This one involved a young aide named Monica Lewinsky. It was alleged that Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky while Hillary was out of town. Kenneth Starr (who couldn’t find enough legitimate dirt evidently) decided to exploit this instead. Lewinsky stayed quiet and one had to feel sorry for the gullible young woman, but Clinton responded rather nastily by stating that he did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.
Now despite Clinton’s reputation as a cad, basically, he did have a pretty decent record when it came to women’s issues, most notably, with his Family Leave Act, so women’s groups were quick to defend the guy as hypocritical as it looked (A few years earlier, they sent Liberal Republican Senator Bob Packwood out on a rail for less transgressions after having even done more for women than even Clinton had- but he was a Republican- right?). Anyway, Starr went after Clinton like a pit bull, and it culminated in a deposition where he ultimately admitted the affair. Now it was off to the races and Speaker Gingrich pushed for an impeachment hearing. Not because of some Tenure of Office Act or covering up some political malfeasance, no this was for lying about having an illicit affair. No doubt if Gingrich could have gotten away with it, Clinton would have been impeached for littering.
Anyway, though Clinton had indeed embarrassed the office and I personally would have liked to have seen him resign, it was hardly impeachable. But, hey, that’s me. They did impeach Clinton, but it would cost Gingrich his seat. Yes, he won his re-election but only barely and he realized his effectiveness as Speaker was gone after his party lost six seats in the 1998 midterms. So, he resigned, and Bob Livingston of Louisiana was pegged to replace him.
But wait! It turned out Livingston had an affair as well and he fell on his sword and resigned. They ended up settling on Dennis Hastert of Illinois who later would be nailed for having sex with minors in the 1960s. Boy were those Republicans on a roll.
The impeachment trial took place in January 1999 and in no real surprise, Clinton was acquitted by a 50-50 vote. The last two years of Clinton’s Presidency would be relatively quiet.
Despite the Hijinx that was the impeachment process (and almost every President has been threatened with impeachment by the opposing party since then), Clinton did manage some pretty serious accomplishments in his second term. For one thing, he accomplished what no one had done since the 1920’s; he balanced the budget. He also was able to get an assault weapons ban passed after the Columbine School shooting in 1999. Clinton also was able to broker peace between the warring factions in Ireland in what was known as the Good Friday Peace Accords. He also mediated the Rye River agreements between Israel and the PLO, still led by Yasser Arafat.
But there would be some warning signs on the horizon for the next President, not all of it Clinton’s fault. NATO had to bomb Serbia when Milosevic though he could be Hitler again. Milosevic would finally be toppled and would be at large come the next Administration.
But the bigger issue maybe started with the explosion on the USS Cole. This was initiated by a would be freedom fighter named Osama Bin Laden. Clinton responded by bombing the bejeebers out of his compound, but the fun was just beginning, and it would be President Bush II that would pay the price.
In the meantime, The Clintons made plans to move to New York so Hillary could carpetbag her way to Senator. The Clintons would be out of the White House, but they sure weren’t done yet.
Post Presidency: While Hillary was padding her resume as a Senator from New York, Bill Clinton opened an office in New York City, maintaining an active speaking schedule. He teamed up with Former President Bush on a couple of humanitarian initiatives and they became friends. He also stayed very involved in politics becoming something of a respected elder statesman. Even a heart surgery in 2004 couldn’t slow him down. He could still be controversial as he helped Hillary in her 2008 and 2016 Presidential campaigns but, all in all, he has managed to come out with more integrity than he ever had as President.
Odd Notes: After a morning of jogging, Clinton was known to frequent the local McDonalds.
Hilary Rodham Clinton served on the Watergate Committee
Final Summary: And what have we learned? We learned that there is more than one meaning for the word, is. We also learned what not to do with a cigar.
But basically, when you look at the whole picture, Clinton was a pretty good President. Not that I’d invite him for Sunday dinner, I think his character has a lot to be desired. But he was quite adept at getting legislation passed even with a very hostile Congress hell bent on removing him from office. I think he may have been more effective in his troubled second term than he had been in the first. Maybe having an adverse Congress was good for Clinton.
Pity I wouldn’t be able to say the same for future Presidents.
Overall rating: B-
https://millercenter.org/president/clinton