By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
August 15, 2000
After listening to the Democrat Convention for most of the day yesterday on C-Span, beginning with a press conference with Laura Tyson, who was Clinton’s President's National Economic Adviser in his first administration, the sweep of the misinformation was so sweeping I was at loss to pick one or two things that illustrate the problem.
Tyson, asked why Clinton wanted to give what he called a "controlled" tax cut, rather than a tax cut for all taxpapers, explained that there was "no reason" to give a tax cut, unless the government wanted to affect the economy and the economy didn’t need to be affected. Of course, the personal household economy of millions of Americans, who need two incomes to support their families - one to pay the tax bill and the other to buy the groceries and pay the rent - would be dramatically affected by a tax cut, but this was the night to talk about the needs of Washington, D.C., not families.
However, perhaps the comment that was made on C-Span by a gushing Democrat after the Convention closed for the night best illustrates my problem with what was said yesterday, especially by Bill Clinton. The caller praised Clinton as the "best president the country has ever had" because, he said, "in his eight years in office he eliminated the national debt."
When Clinton took office in 1993, the national debt was 4.064.6 TRILLION dollars. The National debt has INCREASED during this wonderful economy by an astounding 1.6 TRILLION dollar. The U.S. National Debt is currently $5,643,676,378,336. This is approximately 100% higher than it was at the end of Ronald Reagan’s eight years, when he was trying to revive the economy after Carter’s stagflation.
At the end of the Reagan Administration each American owed $10,534 each on the National Debt. After nearly eight years of Bill Clinton, Americans owe $20,437.49 each on the National Debt.
Clinton said, in his speech, that "Like Sgt. Joe Friday" he was telling us "just the facts" - and sadly, in spite of all that has occurred, in spite of being impeached for lying to a grand jury, there are still a lot of people out there who believe everything he says, regardless of how ridiculous, even when he says, as he did, that things are better, "because the debt is down."
The debt is not down. In fact, the debt increased 40% in Clinton’s eight years. It is three TRILLION dollars larger than it was when Ronald Reagan left office
And, instead of talking about reducing spending, Al Gore is talking about MAJOR increases in federal spending - on education, expansion of Medicare, which is in financial difficulty now. Obviously, Gore is either relying on a rapidly expanding economy, an inflationary economy or increased borrowing to provide the money he would need to finance his expansion of government.
Government expansion and unabashed praise for big government solutions to any and all problems seemed to be the theme of the evening. Hillary Clinton, speaking of her book "It Takes a Village," made it clear that the "Village" was the government. "In fact," she said, "It takes Al Gore and Joe Lieberman" to raise your children. The theme of the Republicans was to bring education and welfare and other problems back home, to require personal responsibility. The theme of the Democrats was more federal control of education and welfare and more reliance on government.
Bill Clinton wanted to make it clear that, in his opinion, everything good that has occurred in the country in the last eight years has been because of him and the federal government. With a perfectly straight face he took credit for welfare reform that he vetoed three times. He finally signed Welfare Reform when presented with a bill passed by the Republican Congress with a veto-proof majority.
As the Washington Post observes this morning:
"In Clinton's view, it was the mix of tax increases and trims in spending passed in 1993 – with all Democratic votes – that launched prosperity, as well as a series of politically risky actions, such as intervening in 1995 in the Mexican currency crisis, that kept it on the path. Republicans believe Clinton did little more than have the luck to preside at a time when business and technology are transforming America, and in many ways making Washington's role less relevant than before."
In his acceptance speech, George W. Bush spoke of the nation’s prosperity with an oblique criticism of Bill Clinton’s lack of action:
Prosperity can be a tool in our hands — used to build and better our country. Or it can be a drug in our system — dulling our sense of urgency, of empathy, of duty.
Our opportunities are too great, our lives too short, to waste this moment. So tonight we vow to our nation …
We will seize this moment of American promise.
We will use these good times for great goals.
We will confront the hard issues — threats to our national security, threats to our health and retirement security — before the challenges of our time become crises for our children.
And we will extend the promise of prosperity to every forgotten corner of this country.
To every man and woman, a chance to succeed. To every child, a chance to learn. To every family, a chance to live with dignity and hope.
For eight years, the Clinton/Gore administration has coasted through prosperity. And the path of least
resistance is always downhill.
But America’s way is the rising road.
This nation is daring and decent and ready for change.
Our current president embodied the potential of a generation. So many talents. So much charm. Such great skill. But, in the end, to what end?
So much promise, to no great purpose.
Last night Clinton responded to George W. Bush on the prosperity issue as follows:
But we're not just better off, we're also a better country. We are today more tolerant, more decent, more humane and more united. Now, that's the purpose of prosperity.Since 1992, America has grown, not just economically, but as a community. Yes, jobs are up, but so are adoptions. Yes, the debt is down, but so is teen pregnancy. We're becoming both more diverse and more united.
My fellow Americans, tonight we can say with gratitude and humility, we built our bridge to the 21st century. We crossed that bridge together, and we're not going back.
To those who say--and I'm sure you heard this somewhere in the last few days, to those who say the progress of these last eight years was just some sort of accident, that we just, kind of, coasted along, let me be clear: America's success was not a matter of chance, it was a matter of choice.
And today America faces another choice. It's every bit as momentous as the one we faced eight years ago, for what a nation does with its good fortune is just as stern a test of its character, values and judgment as how it deals with adversity.
My fellow Americans, this is a big election, with great consequences for every American, because the differences--the honest differences between our candidates and their visions are so profound.
The problem for Clinton, and probably for Gore as well, is that the American people are not willing to give them the credit for the booming economy. As the Washington Post observes:
"The evidence is mixed on whether the public gives credit to Clinton for the nation's sunny circumstances. Polls have long shown some 60 percent of Americans support his job performance – support that served as a life preserver during the impeachment saga."On the other hand, a spring survey by the Los Angeles Times found that only 15 percent of the public gave most credit to Clinton for the roaring economy, compared to 24 percent who credited the technology industry, and 9 percent for the GOP majority in Congress."
The question wasn’t asked on the poll, but if it were, I rather suspect that the American public also won’t give him the credit for the reduction in teen pregnancies either.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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