General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Social Security expansion now very real. Thanks, Third Way! [View all]Samantha
(9,314 posts)I have read several books about his presidency, and I cannot remember in which one I read this. It appears he was struggling to find a new term to describe the politics and accomplishments of the Clinton years, including that which he regarded as successes (we can quibble about some of these later) he achieved by compromising with Republicans. I personally have another name for that but I won't post it here because I am not ready for my pizza delivery yet.
I think "Third Way" was the third name he stumbled upon.
While I do like Clinton, some of his accomplishments such as cutting welfare deeply and adversely impacted citizens much in the same way as Republicans recommend today. I don't literally think of this as a "third way" as much as I do a betrayal of Democratic principles.
But he was excellent at defending himself under distressful circumstances against the horrendous attacks by the Republicans. Let me repeat that -- excellent. He should have written a survival guide on that subject alone for Democrats who won the Oval Office after him. Such a guide could have saved us a lot of angst in recent days
I also like our current President and perhaps with his speech this week he is indeed thinking of gravitating away from the Third Way Highway....
Many who align with the Third Way are former DLC'ers trying once again to become relevant in politics.
Sam