I tell you what, if I have to hear one more time from some liberal luminary like Lanny Davis claim, as somehow being proof of how well progressivism works, how it was that "Slick Willie" Clinton was able to balance the budget and create 23 Million jobs, I think my head will explode. Because to actually believe such ideological nonsense requires one to ignore completely what it was that "BJ" tried to do, but was prevented from getting away with. Yes I know, rewriting history is what these liberal buffoons excel at, but what "BJ" possessed was not some exceptional political skill, what it was, was just some old fashioned plain dumb luck. As they say timing is everything, and nothing proves that better than the old Slickmeister himself.
None of these clones, eager in their desire to paint "BJ" as being some brilliant politician, conveniently forget to mention the fact that had it not been for the Congress, at that time under the control of the Republicans, that this douchebag was forced to deal with, the chances that he would have accomplished either feat is pretty damn remote! So let’s try to set the record straight, shall we? The fact is, though most Democrats are very likely to disagree, that Slick did not balance the budget. Granted, he was there when it happened, but the record clearly shows that that’s about the extent of his contribution to the event. Every single budget this supposed genius submitted, if passed as drafted, would have added to the then already existing deficit.
And I’m quite sure that no one would be the least bit surprised if I were to tell them how it was that the media went, and continues to go, to great length to exaggerate this story. The New York Times loudly proclaimed at the time, reporting how it was that, "Clinton balances the budget." Oddly enough, there were even some who have praised George H.W. Bush. Political analyst Bill Schneider declared on CNN that Bush was one of "the real heroes" for his willingness to raise taxes, and never mind read my lips. In any case, crediting Bush for the end of the deficit requires some nifty logical somersaults, since the deficit hit its highest peak of $290 Billion during Bush’s last year in office. But I’m not looking to discuss the Bushes.
And contrary to what may still be the popular belief of some, 1993, that year old "BJ" brought into being the largest tax hike in our history, was not the turning point in the deficit wars, either. In fact, in 1995, two years after that tax hike, the budget baseline submitted by Slick’s own Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) actually predicted $200 Billion deficits for as far as the eye could see. So then, just what was it that could have changed this bleak outlook? Well, while Newt Gingrich and company have received virtually no credit over the years for balancing the budget, the surplus was, in part, a byproduct of the GOP’s single-minded crusade to end 30 years of red ink.
Arguably, Gingrich’s finest hour as Speaker came in March 1995 when he rallied the entire Republican House caucus behind the idea of eliminating the deficit within seven years. We had a balanced budget then that was mostly a result of 1) an exceptionally strong economy that is creating gobs of new tax revenues and 2) a shrinking military budget. Because social spending was still soaring to an overall total of more than $1 trillion. Skeptics said it couldn’t be done in seven years. However, it was the GOP, and not Slick Willie his band of spend-crazy Democrats, that accomplished it in only four. But as they say, it’s not about what you actually did, it’s about who’s best at convincing the voters of what you did.
Now let’s take a look at what was the real Slickmeister fiscal record. Recall now that it was ‘Slick’ who actually fought the Republicans every inch of the way in balancing the budget in 1995. When Republicans proposed their own balanced-budget plan, "BJ" waged a shameless Mediscare campaign to torpedo the plan, a campaign that even the Washington Post slammed as "pure demagoguery." It was "BJ" who, during the big budget fight in 1995, had to submit not one, not two, but five budgets until he begrudgingly matched the GOP’s balanced-budget plan. In fact, during the height of the budget wars in the summer of 1995, "BJ" admitted that balancing the budget was nowhere near being one of his top priorities.
And lets not forget who it was that was behind the first, and thankfully unsuccessful, attempt at a federal takeover of our healthcare system. It was, of course, none other than the Slickmeister and the Mrs. who set about to engineer a plan that, as we’re now finding out courtesy of Obamacare, would have sent the government’s finances well into the stratosphere. Tom Delay was right in saying at the time that for Clinton to take credit for the balanced budget is like Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel taking credit for delivering the pitch to Mark McGuire that he hit out of the park for his 62nd home run. But that hasn’t stopped old Slick, or any number of Democrats from perpetuating the myth ever since.
Now as they say, numbers don’t lie and if we were to go back in time we would see that what the numbers show is that there was an actual cumulative budget deficit of almost $600 Billion from 1994 to 1998. Part of the explanation for the balanced budget is that Republicans in Congress had the commonsense to reject the most reckless features of Clintonomics. Had they not done so, you would not now be hearing anyone on the left bragging about how it was that because of progressivism the budget was finally balanced. Nor about how those evil conservatives then went on to squander that which Slick worked so hard to bring about. Slick was essentially saved from himself by congressional Republicans
And just as side note here, when it comes to the job growth that occurred on his watch, there is really very little here, as well, that "BJ" can realistically take any amount of credit for. It, again, was simply another example of his being in the right place at the right time. And while it makes for good storytelling, there’s very little about it that can be said to have resulted from anything that Slick might have done. You see, it was the time of that much talked about tech bubble, which I think we can all safely agree, that Slick really played no part in bringing about. So it is then that nearly every important component of his supposed legacy stems from the actions of others, with Slick having very little to do with any of it.
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