I've read a lot of people describe Obama as "far left Liberal", whereas Reagan was a "Far Right Conservative." What was Bill Clinton during his presidency?
What were his fiscal, social and foreign policies? Liberal, Moderate or Conservative and how far left or right of either?

I saw Clinton being whatever he needed to be at any given moment to further his political survival.

He signed NAFTA, he implemented the dreaded "don't ask dont tell" and yet was a darling with labor and gays.

My view is that he was not as liberal as some people would portray him, but in the end his governing political stance was "do whatever it takes to stay in power".  A very adept politician, sorta like Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania.

Note... I was not all that upset about the whole Monica Lewinsky thing.  First, it has provided 11 years worth of cheap jokes and innuendos.  But Secondly, the American public already knew he was a philandering hoser when he was originally elected.  So to me "no biggie" there.  The perjury thing had me a bit ruffled though.

Now, Hillary's simply sitting back and putting up with Bill's hosery is the main reason I could not support her politically.  If she had stepped forward and dumped Bill back in 1998, I guarantee yiu she coulda run for President in 2000 and she would have won by a landslide.  Heck, I likely woulda voted for her under those circumstances.

You can never be too thin, too rich, or too conservative.  Clinton was portrayed as a combination of Larry Flynt and Fidel Castro; however, Issue-for-issue, Bill Clinton was more conservative than Richard Nixon.  The country had moved so far to the right by 1992 that Tricky Dick looked like a middle-of-the-road pragmatist and Eisenhower looked like a pinko-commie!

Clinton caved into the right-wing's agenda on all domestic issues, but they still impeached him for a cumstain on a blue dress.

And, as LB, alluded to, Bill Clinton always had an unswerving loyalty to Bill Clinton.
::)

The only people describing Obama as a "far left liberal" are the right wing propaganda machine. Clinton was pretty much a conservative.

The only people describing Obama as a "far left liberal" are the right wing propaganda machine. Clinton was pretty much a conservative.


No, I think his very aggressive stance on abortion and now his stance on benefits for unmarried partners would put him in the far-left liberal camp.

Mind you there is much common ground with O'Bama's policies too.  I have little problem with most of the credit-industry reforms, and I have little problem with him forcing any bank/company that takes Government money to stop treating its management like royalty.

But his zeal to pay back (a) pro abortion entities, (b) unions in the GM/Chrysler debacle, and (c) mainly gays in the unmarried-partner-benefits stuff puts him quite squarely to the left.  MUCH farther left than Bill Clinton.

Moderate...  with Libertarian leanings.

No, I think his very aggressive stance on abortion and now his stance on benefits for unmarried partners would put him in the far-left liberal camp.

Never understood why supporting a woman's right to choose puts anyone in the "far left liberal" camp...

Compared to all the political parties this side of the pond, Clinton was a slightly right-of-centre moderate

Never understood why supporting a woman's right to choose puts anyone in the "far left liberal" camp...

Compared to all the political parties this side of the pond, Clinton was a slightly right-of-centre moderate


Maybe because in addition to merely "supporting the right to choose" early in his presidency he decided to fund abortion in foreign countries, and took the lock off of funding for people who would clone human embryos, regardless of how they were created, for scientific experimentation.  These were/are both aggressive stances that take a mercenary approach to the formation of life.

These were/are both aggressive stances that take a mercenary approach to the formation of life.

..and this makes him "far left liberal" exactly how?

Maybe because in addition to merely "supporting the right to choose" early in his presidency he decided to fund abortion in foreign countries, and took the lock off of funding for people who would clone human embryos, regardless of how they were created, for scientific experimentation.  These were/are both aggressive stances that take a mercenary approach to the formation of life.


Bush did took an aggressive stance against the "mercenary approach to the formation of life," but happily endorsed the mercenary approach to the execution of death.

Blackwater anybody?
::)

I think Bubba was a moderate, and Obama's inclinations are also moderate, although like FDR he has been forced by circumstances to save the system from itself with what could be described as fascist techniques. 

He was a moderate.

He was the consummate politician

Moderate...  with Libertarian leanings.


Fixed that for me.

Moderate, yes.  Libertarian, no.  The reason the Iranian government has been able to track down and eliminate many of its enemies this  ast week, for instance, wasn't entirely Nokia's fault.  If you're selling telecom switches, they've gotta be CALEA-compliant.  Sure, Nokia wrote the software, but they were only implementing a standard that has been required for 15 years. 

His administration was also the one that tried (and thankfully, failed, because if they'd succeeded in requiring key escrow via the Clipper Chip, and if they'd succeeded, everything from online banking to the major institutional electronic funds transfers and clearing systems would have been compromised.  For all the modern whining about a "digital Peral Harbor", we came within a hair's breadth of guaranteeing one some ten years before the scaremongering term for it was invented.

On crypto, his administration may have been working in good faith, but whether out of ignorance or malice is irrelevant - the policies of that administration were completely at odds with both the causes of liberty and information security.  Unfortunately, so were the policies of his successors. 

But on intellectual property, it wasn't ignorance, it was malice.  This is the administration that brought you the DMCA and Mickey Mouse Protection Act.  Develop the cure for AIDS and you get a patent that gvies you a 17-year monopoly.  But do something important, like drawing a cartoon mouse?  You get a copyright, which is good for the rest of your life plus another 25, 50, 75 years.  And you can count on scribbling out that 75 and putting in a "100" by 2018.

Yeah, I'm picking at a nit here.  I don't even have that many beefs against the guy.  Overall, Clinton was a moderate.

But in no way, shape or form, was he a libertarian.

I don't see the Libertarian Clinton either.

Fixed that for me.

Moderate, yes.  Libertarian, no.  The reason the Iranian government has been able to track down and eliminate many of its enemies this  ast week, for instance, wasn't entirely Nokia's fault.  If you're selling telecom switches, they've gotta be CALEA-compliant.  Sure, Nokia wrote the software, but they were only implementing a standard that has been required for 15 years. 

His administration was also the one that tried (and thankfully, failed, because if they'd succeeded in requiring key escrow via the Clipper Chip, and if they'd succeeded, everything from online banking to the major institutional electronic funds transfers and clearing systems would have been compromised.  For all the modern whining about a "digital Peral Harbor", we came within a hair's breadth of guaranteeing one some ten years before the scaremongering term for it was invented.

On crypto, his administration may have been working in good faith, but whether out of ignorance or malice is irrelevant - the policies of that administration were completely at odds with both the causes of liberty and information security.  Unfortunately, so were the policies of his successors. 

But on intellectual property, it wasn't ignorance, it was malice.  This is the administration that brought you the DMCA and Mickey Mouse Protection Act.  Develop the cure for AIDS and you get a patent that gvies you a 17-year monopoly.  But do something important, like drawing a cartoon mouse?  You get a copyright, which is good for the rest of your life plus another 25, 50, 75 years.  And you can count on scribbling out that 75 and putting in a "100" by 2018.

Yeah, I'm picking at a nit here.  I don't even have that many beefs against the guy.  Overall, Clinton was a moderate.

But in no way, shape or form, was he a libertarian.


Good points...  I was thinking more in terms of economic policy.  He was liberal on most social issues while being right of center on a good amount of economic issues.  That is close to Libertarian in those respects.  I suppose he was more authoritarian with regard to copyrights and surveillance.

i would say none. i would say he was a Sellout.

i would say none. i would say he was a Sellout.


You'll get no argument from me on that one.  And I've got a sinking suspicion about Obama.
::)

You'll get no argument from me on that one.  And I've got a sinking suspicion about Obama.
::)


I do too and in my honest opinion...I feel that Clinton was very similar to JFK.