First, I just want to preface this with: If there were only two names on the ballot… The White House rolled back time, to the days when Bill Clinton was the President of the United States. It was only a half hour, but just a few moments of Barack obama not being the president was like recovering from a two-year migraine. That migraine will resume shortly.
As house Democrats rebel against Barack Obama’s deal with devil tax agreement with the Republicans, The White House has turned to one of the few Democrats that hasn’t actually has the Marxist tag hung around his neck. Bill Clinton showed up at a White House press conference, and it at first appeared to be an Obama/Clinton Q & A. It turned out to be Clinton taking the reins one more time, and looking much more presidential than Obama ever has.
It was only a 30 minute or so conference, but of that time, Obama only spoke for 1 1/2 minutes. He stood around for another 10 minutes as Clinton spoke, and then excused himself. It looked very odd that Clinton was making the case for passing the embattled tax bill as Obama stood there like his butler. Agree with him or not, at least Clinton was able to formulate some kind of quasi-compelling argument without insulting the American public in the process.
Although I disagreed with Clinton’s philosophy, and which way the country should be going, he made a fair argument and backed up why he felt the way he did. He also recognized that sometimes you must compromise, and that neither side will be completely happy, but progress will be made. This is a concept that Obama was either unaware of, or completely ignored the last two years.
Clinton also talked about the START treaty, and why dismantling the U.S. nuclear arsenal could possibly cause other countries to follow suit. That idea is ridiculous on its face, but at least he made the argument why START was a good idea. In the end, I think he would have tried to hash out something with opponents of the idea if he were still in the White House. We already know the approach Obama will take.
Clinton also talked about how to get banks to start loaning some of their large cash reserves to get the economy moving. He did not elaborate on how banks that needed to be bailed out so badly were now boasting huge cash reserves. He did suggest that banks could push their risk off on Fannie and Freddie once again. Yes, the same thing that started the mortgage mess. It’s a horrible idea, but then, Clinton is a Democrat; that is his philosophy. But given what we know now, I think he would be willing to work with Republicans to come up with a way to convince banks to start lending again. I think he would compromise. Again, we already know what Obama’s approach would be.
No, Bill Clinton is not the ideal guy in the White House, but this was a comparison between him and Barack Obama. If I had to choose, it would be Clinton. He showed today that he has more knowledge about the economy, he actually has ideas of his own, and he is willing to compromise to make progress. Up until this deal with the Republicans, Obama has shown none of those qualities.
In hindsight, Obama probably wouldn’t have let Clinton speak. The difference between someone who actually acted like a guy who was running the country and one who looked like a teleprompter reading academic was quite striking. One of the reporters even mentioned in a question that there are calls for Obama to be a one term president. He shouldn’t have gotten this term. I’m certainly no Bill Clinton fan, but pound for pound, he puts Barack Obama to shame.
But Bill Clinton isn’t the president, Obama is, and it is he the country must deal with. Dems are going to block the tax bill in the house, the Senate is decorating it like a Christmas Tree, and now even Republicans are starting to balk. Quite a mess, and it is now that we need a president to keep the ship from sinking. Too bad we don’t have one.