newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MICHAEL BUSLER

COMMENTARY

He is trying to snooker us. Again.

Personally, I like Bill Clinton. He was the first baby boomer to become President of the United States. During his time in office, he was viewed very positively as a Democratic President who could work with a Republican House of Representatives to achieve legislation that truly benefited the country. From Free Trade agreements to welfare reform, he lead in a very positive way.

Since leaving office 12 years ago he has continued to take actions that benefit all Americans. From his humanitarian actions both here and abroad to the global foundations where he encourages open dialogue and promotes world peace, he is the perfect example of how an ex-president can get things done when no one else can. More than two-thirds of Americans currently view him positively.

Still, he is far from a saint. Beginning with his days as Attorney General in Arkansas through his days as governor of that state, he was constantly getting into trouble, sometimes with criminal implications. Always he was able to talk and dance his way out of it. From the Whitewater scandal to his actions where he dodged the draft to his admission that he tried smoking marijuana but “didn’t inhale” Slick Willie Clinton always avoided paying the price for his actions. In 1977 he was pardoned by President Carter for his possible illegal actions concerning his draft status. In 1993 he became the first pardoned federal felon to serve as President of the US.

Then he snookered us. He said he did not lie to Congress. When asked if he had sex with intern Monica Lewinsky he said “no”. The reality was that he did have sexual contact with her but he said since he did not fully complete sexual intercourse, he really didn’t have sex, so he did not lie. Slick Willie wiggled out again and, since we liked him, we went along.

So now he is back trying to snooker us again. At the Democratic National Convention, he said that “yes” we are better off than we were four years ago. While we like the guy and want to believe him, we know we are not better off.

About 20 percent of the roughly 120 million households have an adult that is unemployed, under-employed or discouraged from seeking work. Almost 70 million households have seen the value of their primary investment (the home) decline in value. Almost all workers have seen stagnant wages or a decline in income. While the recession technically ended more than three years ago, the recovery has been almost non-existent. The truth is we are far worse off today than we were four years ago, no matter what Slick Willie tries to say.

And then he tries to tell us that it is Bush’s fault we are in this mess and unless we re-elect Obama we will go back to worse times. Nice try.

The reality is that while the recession may be George Bush’s, the recovery is all Obama. Never in history has government fiscal policy and monetary policy been so expansive, and yet the results are terrible. The reason is that Obama’s policy actions, while helping the bottom 20 percent of the population, have placed such a heavy burden on the economy, that it simply can not recover.

Picture a runner who stumbles and falls while rounding a turn on the track. Instead of trying to help him get up, Obama keeps placing additional weights on his shoulders. With the extra weight is takes him longer and longer to start running again. From burdensome health care reform to over regulation of key markets, the additional weight is simply too much.

Slick Willie can say what he wants. But we are not going to fall for it this time, even though we really do like the guy a lot.

Michael Busler, a public policy analyst, is an Associate Professor at Richard Stockton College.