All things considered, what grade would you give Bill Clinton as president, from 1993 to 2001?

[Nye Bevan]

50 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	A+, A or A-
	6 (12%)
	B+, B or B-
	8 (16%)
	C+, C or C-
	18 (36%)
	D+, D or D-
	9 (18%)
	F
	9 (18%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[Cobalt Violet]

1. Cutting the saftey net is an automatic F.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Does President Obama get an automatic F for not attempting to restore it? (nt)

[Cobalt Violet]

5. No he get an F for cutting food stamps during a time of soring childhood poverty.

[Nye Bevan]

9. Let me guess.... FDR gets an F for interning Japanese Americans? (nt)

[Action_Patrol]

14. This place is fucking ridiculous sometimes

Some people will hate everything no matter what.

[Glorfindel]

3. ALL things considered...A+ (just not being a Bush would qualify for a solid B)

He left office with a balanced budget and a nation at peace. The national debt was shrinking. And then came the supreme court's coup d'état in December 2000. The Clinton administration is definitely the good old days.

[hamsterjill]

11. +1

Best years of my life without a doubt. I felt safe when Big Dawg was at the helm.

[clarice]

28. I thought that we HATED balanced budgets. nt

[tkmorris]

4. I'd give him a C+

Here's the thing though. I'd expect your average Republican to get about a 'D' from me, just based on ideology. Similarly, the average Dem should be around a 'B'. I think Clinton wasn't terrible, but as a Democrat I'd consider him a bit below average overall.

[Chan790]

6. B-, the same grade I'd give Barack Obama.

They both got some big things done but overall, I feel like the negatives slightly outpace the positives of their administrations and they get a lot of credit for things they had small or no part in.

As contrast, I'd give the GOP Presidents in my lifetime:

Reagan: F
Bush I: D- (He really didn't F things up as much as he could have)
Bush II: F

I was only alive for the last 30 days of Carter's term, post election and a lame-ducked so if anything, he gets a "pass" on the pass/fail scale.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. A- or B+

Those going lower than a B are discounting that he had a Republican congress to deal with for 6 out of his 8 years, and also ignoring the objective fact that the economy grew incredibly while President.

[nichomachus]

8. The GOP saved the Clintons during the '90s

had it not been for the constant and ridiculous charges being thrown at the Clintons by Republicans, more people on the left wouldn't have felt the need to defend them as a knee-jerk reaction and might have assessed their presidency more accurately. Bill Clinton would not be viewed favorably by many people, and Mrs. Clinton would have nothing to run on today.

The final straw was Monica Lewinsky. Again, people felt obliged to rush to Bill's defense. And he and Mrs. Clinton felt obliged to give up their assault on Medicare in order to solidify support.

In fact, had the right and left united on the proper complaints about the two of them, Bill most likely would not have had a second term.

[Nye Bevan]

10. It's very hard to imagine Bob Dole beating Clinton in 1996 (nt)

[nichomachus]

12. Had the Clintons been on the ropes, Dole wouldn't have been the candidate. nt

[CTyankee]

13. I have to grade him down for his recklessness with Lewinsky. He could have stopped

her as he was the most powerful man in the world. He took too many chances and opened the door to a repub. congress that wanted to get rid of him. He lied to the country.

Maybe a C. The economy flourished and grew as the dot.com revolution came into being. I do give credit where credit is due.

[demmiblue]

16. He could have stopped her? No, he could have stopped himself. n/t

[CTyankee]

19. Yes, certainly. But she got access to him and he could have said to his aides that he

wanted her nowhere near the WH. I blame him not her.

[nichomachus]

26. Mike Dukakis had a standing rule with his staff

He was never to be left alone with a woman who wasn't his wife.

Knowing that he couldn't keep Little Willie under control, Big Willie should have done the same thing.

[CTyankee]

27. absolutely. He was in charge not his penis. He should have been much more in control.

The repubs MPEACHED the guy! We barely escaped him being CONVICTED in the Senate!

At a certain point, we have to say ENOUGH.

[clarice]

30. What bothered me the most about the whole"penis gate affair"....

was the silence from the national women's groups.

[KamaAina]

15. NAFTA and welfare deform cost him the A.

See me after class, Bill!

[dembotoz]

17. not as bad as bush or ronnie so not an f but not muich higher

and it hurts my opinion of hrc as in

my
god
not
them
again

[clarice]

29. Yup...can't you just see the regular cast of characters? nt

[HughBeaumont]

18. Eh. B -

Lots of good things happened under his admin.

Lots of bad things also happened under his admin, particularly in terms of blue collar work, the LGBTQI community and welfare recipients. Clinton was also a fan of deregulation and kowtowing to jackals like Angelo Mozila and Phorclosure Phil Gramm.

[yardwork]

24. The LGBTQI community benefited during the Clinton administration.

Vastly increased funding for HIV research led to huge strides in treatment, saving millions of lives.

DADT was a big improvement on the previous policies.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. "Deemed to have deserved honours", same as Barack Obama.

DDH is the award Cambridge university gives to student who are unable to take their final exams for legitimate reasons, and whose past performance indicates that they would probably have passed them.

One of my friends got a DDH when she was in hospital with an ovarian cyst and peritonitis when she should have been sitting her finals.

No Democrat is going to be able to be a great president while the current Republican party controls any of the branches of government, or is even close to doing so. But either Clinton or Obama might well have been, given the opportunity.

[XemaSab]

21. B- or C+

He had the advantage of being president during an economic boom, much like Ronald Reagan did.

His policies, however, weren't that great.

Hard one to parse out.

[Angel Martin]

22. Not an overall grade

but Clinton gets an F from me on: NAFTA, GATT, WTO and MFN for China as well as the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

[MillennialDem]

23. Torn somewhere between low A and high C

I wasn't old enough to vote for him and also not really old enough to feel the economic impact.

He did a lot of shitty things DOMA, cutting social safety net, etc but did advance some things that were pretty revolutionary for the time like don't ask don't tell which was a good thing for the time. He also did leave a good economy and of course appointed supreme court justices like notorious RBG.

And this after 12 years of Reaganomics and a country that was much more conservative at the time.

So in an absolute sense, a high C.

In a relative sense, a low A or high B.

[bigwillq]

25. Average. I voted "C" for purposes of this poll.

I felt Clinton was an average president. Did some good things, did some not some good things. Average, imo.