Think ABOUT Those terrible horrible Clinton years!!!!! [View All]

[capi888]

This was posted on a blog and i think you may find it interesting. Many of you, younger, or not intuned to what happened in the 90's




I know, I know, they were awful. Just awful. We hear every day as the handful of missteps by the Clinton/Gore administration are endlessly touted, and the rest of what they did is buried as fast as the pundits and the blogs can shovel. But here are some facts:

There was the lowest unemployment rate for three decades, and African Americans had the lowest unemployment rate EVER IN RECORDED HISTORY under the Clinton/Gore administration.

We went from a record deficit to a record surplus.

There was the biggest investment in education that there had been for 30 years.

We had the lowest poverty rate in two decades.

There was the biggest drop in child poverty for three decades as well, and it was sustained.

They vastly expanded HeadStart.

They more than doubled federal funding for childcare.

They expanded Pell grants and college help, including beginning the HOPE scholarships.

FMLA was enacted.

There was the lowest crime rate in 25 years

They gave health care to over 6 million children

Americorp began, allowing students to pay off their education expenses through community service.

There was the highest home ownership rate IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY, including the highest minority home ownership rate EVER RECORDED.

We had the longest period of real wage growth since the 60's.

They blocked both offshore oil drilling and oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

They enacted Clean Air standards, and drastically reduced auto emissions.

They cleaned up three times as many toxic waste Superfund sites as the previous 2 administrations.

They increased funding for climate change research to 1.7 billion.

Given all of the above, I get a little weary of ignorant blowhards running around jeering at the 90's as "more of the same" and pretty much relegating Bill's administration to the crap pile. No, it wasn't more of the same. It was one of the only bright spots of progressive achievement in this country for 40 years. Did they accomplish all that I hoped? No. Did they compromise more than I would like, and have some failures? Of course.

But they did a pretty good damn job from where I stand.

http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/additional.html