Clinton worship

Democrats and Republicans have a lot more in common when it comes to their relationship to their own past.

Republicans have turned Ronald Reagan into a conservative icon, erasing his more pragmatic side and ignoring some basic facts – the huge budget deficits he left, the tax increases passed on his watch and his willingness to work with Democrats when he needed.

Democrats have essentially done the same thing with Bill Clinton. The 42nd president, who spoke last night, is the party’s elder statesman and touchstone. They remember the balanced budget, but forget that it was his treasury secretary who allowed numerous banking mergers in violation of banking rules that would soon be eliminated with Clinton’s support. They remember the strong economy, but forget that the growth was fueled by a tech-sector bubble. They forget that he kept Alan Greenspan on as Federal Reserve chairman, that he “ended welfare as we know it.” And they ignore the rise in income inequality that occurred during the 1990s – see the income inequality report put out by the Center for American Progress. Many people prospered during the Clinton presidency, but a whole lot of people did not.

An honest assessment of the Clinton years would take these things into account.

I have one other critique of this mythologizing that has nothing to do with Clinton and everything to do with how we’ve come to view the presidency. Rather than looking at the chief executive as an elected official who shares power with Congress and the courts, we expect the president to be our savior. Whether we are discussing Clinton, Bush, Obama or Romney, it is pretty clear that the direction of the country is going to depend upon our efforts as citizens to keep the government focused on what’s important to those of us in the lower 99 percent rather than what is important to the people who fund their campaigns. We have become complacent, assuming at exactly the moment when citizen-power is most needed to combat the money that has corroded the system.

Obama is not perfect. Clinton was far from perfect, but they are and were better than the other options on the table. Neither of them, however, matter much if the populace does not get involved to counter the money.

The founders inadvertently created a system that has the potential to empower the average citizen. (I say inadvertently because they were hoping to rein in the rabble, but the amendment system has allowed us to open the system up some.) The money people have hijacked the system with the help of the Supreme Court

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