Clintonism

statistics

is a commitment to tolerance and other non-economic liberal values, but on economic issues, there is no light between them and their republican opponents.

Clintonites are still committed to tolerance and other non-economic liberal values, but on economic issues, there is no light between them and their Republican opponents. This describes Hillary Clinton to a tee. Dissect her public persona and it is all there: the social liberalism, but also the economic neoliberalism and, above all, the reflexive animosity towards Russia and China inherited from the Cold War past.

is not an ideology, but a kind of political opportunism, which in the political climate of the 90s translated to a kind of reaganism in practice.

Clinton's heart was probably never into putting Reaganism into practice... he was and is an opportunist, not a true believer. But as a Democrat, he was able to neutralize the opposition and even to bring it on board. He could therefore accomplish what Reagan and the people around him could only dream of. . . . This is one reason why it is hard to pin down what Clintonism is. It seems too close to Reaganism to count as an 'ism' in its own right.

is reaganism in practice. It is reaganized liberalism. It makes value issues the main dividing line in American politics (rather than traditional democratic concern for material interests).

In reaction, social illiberalism hardened on the right. Before long, disagreements about values, not material interests, constituted the main dividing line in American politics. . . This is what Clintonism is about. . . .It is Reaganized liberalism... Cold War anti-Communist liberalism, without its progressive economic dimension.

is responsible for more privatization and deregulation and the undoing of more government programs than even reagan.

Character issues aside, Bill Clinton was the best Reaganite president ever not the most visionary, not the one with the most competent subordinates, but the most effective. No one, certainly not Reagan himself, did more to privatize and deregulate, and to undo government programs that perform worthwhile functions. Reagan famously proposed 'starving the monster.' This is what Bill Clinton did.

is often used just as a drunken man uses a lamppost, for support rather than for illumination.

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts'for support rather than for illumination.

Andrew Levine

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