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In reply to the discussion: Bill Clinton was a great president [View all]deutsey
(20,166 posts)Last edited Wed Apr 15, 2015, 09:14 AM - Edit history (1)
Having Dick Morris in his inner circle along with Larry Summers et al. would go in the "con" column for me as well.
I think you're right: "adequate" is closer to the truth.
He was not my first choice in '92. I liked Harken but his campaign was a mess. I was going to vote for the Democrat in '92 no matter what, but I wasn't on the Clinton bandwagon until the night before the election. I lived in a suburb outside DC at the time and I remember watching a 20-minute commercial the Clinton campaign played on one of the local channels. They really pushed the "man from Hope" thing and showed the picture of Clinton shaking JFK's hand.
I didn't become a die-hard supporter, but the ad did convince me to give him a chance. So, although I was going to vote for him anyway, that commercial did inspire me a little to think Clinton might actually deliver on all the punditry baltherings about him overturning Reagan.:
By the time '96 came around, however, that inspiration had waned. I still voted for him (or against Dole), but I held my nose.
IMO, his presidency wasn't a disaster (that was yet to come under Cheney/Bush), but "great" isn't a word I would use to describe it, either.