Bill Clinton Lays Out His Prescription for America’s Future.

[elleng]

Bill Clinton’s new book, “Back to Work,” is really several books in one slender volume. It’s a lucid one-man rebuttal of the Tea Party’s anti-government agenda. A series of shrewd talking points for Democrats trying to hold on to the White House and battling for control of Congress in the midst of a sour economy and growing voter discontent. A self-serving reminder of the prosperity the country enjoyed during Mr. Clinton’s tenure in the White House, meant to burnish his legacy. And a practical set of proposals — some borrowed and some new, some innovative and some highly sketchy — for restoring economic growth and creating jobs. . .

At the same time, this book has a passive-aggressive subtext, which suggests that Mr. Clinton has stepped into a gap — has gone “back to work,” as it were — to sell Obama policies that have not been persuasively sold to the American people. Mr. Clinton writes that he started and stopped writing the book several times because he didn’t “want just to add another stone to the Democratic side of the partisan scale,” but “decided to go forward because I think it’s important that all Americans have a clear understanding of the basic economic facts and of the ideas driving the policy proposals under discussion.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/books/back-to-work-has-bill-clintons-ideas-for-america-review.html?hp

[closeupready]

1. As a disclaimer, he is not one of my favorite people. However, I do think

it's sad, in a way, that he seems so out of touch with how things get done in DC. It's all about lobbying and special interests. Economic facts and the American people come last.

[jakeXT]

2. Will he mention the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. This man has always been too far to the right for me. He has never seen a trade agreement

he didn't adore.

[izquierdista]

4. Repeal NAFTA, bring back Glass-Steagall....

In other words, fix all my giveaways to the republicans.


Gee, thanks Bill. Wish you thought of it earlier.

[Rabblevox]

5. Clinton already fucked working America once. You encourage him to do it again???...

Yes, Clinton is articulate and intelligent. So were Pinochet and Friedman. Neither Clinton nor Obama have any "policies" that do not benefit Corporations, the 1%, and the Chinese.

[RC]

6. Can anyone imagine where this country would be today if Clinton

had not managed to get his tax increases in place? bu$h would have had a bigger head start in his rush to he bottom? Things would be much, much worse now.

[frazzled]

8. Actually, I was thinking ...

imagine where this country would be today if Clinton had not signed the repeal of provisions of Glass-Steagall in 1999. It was a horrendous error, allowing for the first time since 1933 the same holding company to control both a commercial bank and an investment bank. The firewall came down, and this is where we got "too big to fail" banks and the entire financial crisis, risky financial behavior clusterfuck.

Thanks, Bill Clinton, for your massive contribution to where we are now. Things would actually be much, much BETTER if you had vetoed that Republican-driven bill.

[RC]

9. If Clinton had vetoed it, his veto would have been overridden.

Or it would have been reintroduced at the beginning of bu$h's first installment run. Either way, Glass-Steagall would have been gone.

[frazzled]

10. But we couldn't blame him, at least

It would have been better to have vetoed it and have it overridden. As it is, signing it makes him wholly responsible. Sorry, but he was complicit in this.

[marmar]

11. Are you going to defend him over NAFTA too?

nt

[stockholmer]

20. are you going to say the same for the HORRID Commodity Futures Modernization Act as well? So often

it is the forgotten one of the big 3 death blows (NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagall being the other 2) that occurred to the economic system under POTUS Clinton.

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act turned over the keys to the house of derivatives to the banksters themselves. The damage will be felt for decades.

Before Elizabeth Warren, there was another lone woman fighting the banks over this, Brooksley Born, and she was slapped down by the troika of Clinton, Greenspan, and Robert Rubin.

-------------------------

excellent video

FRONTLINE The Warning

Long before the meltdown, one woman tried to warn about a threat to the financial system.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1302794657/

[Beacool]

21. As RC pointed out, the veto would have been overridden.

:shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. AARRGGH! That doesn't mean "don't take a stand"

This "don't take a stand because you're going to lose anyway" mentality is the one of the greatest weaknesses of today's Democrats.

By vetoing it (and then horsetrading with the people who were threatening to override the veto) he MAY have been able to sustain his veto.

I've spent ten years on DU having people tell me that certain Dems "had to" vote for an awful bill "because it was going to pass anyway."

That's the stance of a corrupt coward making a lame excuse for doing the bidding of his corporate backers.

[zalinda]

7. I defended him all through his Presidency,

I can no longer defend him. He was lucky, that's all. If we hadn't had an Internet bubble during the time he held office, we would have gotten to this economic crisis earlier.

zalinda

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[applegrove]

13. I am so going to read this.

[elleng]

14. Thanks. Was hoping this thread would be read as useful info for the next year

to help us, U.S., Dems get over this awful 'bump in the road' to survival, and what's it become? A big Dump on B Clinton.

[applegrove]

15. I know BC made some mistakes (GS repeal) but he did a lot of good. And still does. He is

a super asset to the USA as an elder statesman because he reads everything and figures things out from the democratic pov. I think a lot of Americans, including independants, listen to him. I really hope he lives to be 90+. The world needs him.

[elleng]

16. I think he made lots of mistakes,

but I think he's so smart politically and socially that his 'wisdom' can be invaluable, esp. as a speaker and strategist.

[applegrove]

18. By the way Bill Clinton will be on The Daily Show Tuesday night.

[elleng]

19. Thx

[bhikkhu]

26. ...and he's a guy that learns from mistakes

Combine the two, and you have one of the most useful opinions around.

I'd contrast that with Newt, for instance, who has no end to theories that have never been tested, and who (like most of the repugs) has always enjoyed the luxury of having no responsibilities.

[emilyg]

17. Second that.

[Beacool]

22. I would like to read his book.

I like Clinton and I couldn't care less who doesn't. I still think that he is the best politician of the last couple of decades, bar none.

:-)

[elleng]

23. Quite right!

[katty]

24. yes "Back To Work"-if only i could get a job!