May 17, 2016

Why did Hillary say she's going to put Bill Clinton "in charge of revitalizing the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it"?

It's puzzling, isn't it? It raises more questions than it answers, and yet she must think it was worthwhile to say.

1. There was a time when Hillary Clinton presented herself as the continuation of Obama, to generate some early onset nostalgia for the last 8 years. Now — at the risk of seeming to reject Obama (and the economic success he represents) — she's leveraging herself on another man, Bill Clinton. It's something she does, point to that man she's associated with. We like him, don't we? He's likeable more than enough.
“Hillary Clinton’s statement that if elected president she’d put Bill Clinton ‘in charge of revitalizing the economy … because, you know, he knows how to do it’ suggests she’s no longer touting the successes of the Obama economy, or even linking herself to it,” said Robert B. Reich, a secretary of labor during the Clinton administration who endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Democratic primary.
2. Why should Bill Clinton be "in charge of revitalizing the economy"? The economy is our biggest concern, and "in charge" puts him in the central role. What is the argument that he's the man for that job? He knows how to do it. That seems to be based on nothing but hope that we remember a good economy during the Clinton years, but not everyone remembers those years, and those of us who do may not have any idea what Bill Clinton did that worked, and what worked back then might not be what would work now.
[T]outing the economic prosperity he oversaw... could open Mrs. Clinton up to further attacks by Mr. Trump... who has campaigned as an economic populist [and has] hit Mrs. Clinton over her husband’s trade policies, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Mr. Clinton signed into law in 1993 and which many voters believe hurt American workers.
4. She's offering to be the woman President and she's pointing at her husband. Her whole career has been leveraged on Bill Clinton. Forefronting him now exposes her present neediness as well as her past dependence. It's not a good look for her.

5. Bill Clinton appears to be an old, frail man. Let him grow old gracefully. He's term-limited out of the presidency, and he would be the first First Gentleman. Let him have the dignified, supportive role as we've seen in First Ladies (other than that time Hillary Clinton took over health care reform and things worked out so badly).

Here's a close-up on the photograph at the link. It's oddly confusing which hand is Bill's:



The vigorous pointing hand seems to go with his face, but that's the hand of the young lady right behind him who looks like she's thinking Hey, I'm touching Bill Clinton's hand. Bill's is that startlingly long and emaciated hand to which all the other hands reach.

ADDED: Meade read this post out loud and burst into song: "Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you...."

And, by the way, do you remember the good times of the Bill Clinton Administration? Good times never seemed so good. I'd be inclined to believe they never would. 

Now, we're reminiscing about President Kennedy. (That song was about Caroline Kennedy, you know.)

109 comments:

exhelodrvr1 said...

The "success" he represents?

MadisonMan said...

Big fail by Hillary, IMO. It shows her to be not Presidential. Is she running to be President, or to give power to Bill? You can't do both.

Imagine Trump saying "Elect me and I'll put so-and-so in charge of managing a big aspect of the Country". How would that fly in the Editorial Offices of Bezos' Post and The NYTimes?

Sebastian said...

Goes to show, she got nuthin.

But you left out the most "puzzling" (though obviously predictable) thing: the mad Prog notion that any one person, let alone an old disbarred-lawyer pol from AR, can "revitalize the economy."

Dan in Philly said...

Hey, if it comes to a Bill vs Trump contest, who is more manly and vigorous right now? Does Hillary really want an old looking guy challenging Trump in terms of who is more ready? What a bad contrast for team Hill, even aside from all of Bill's other problems.

Bruce Hayden said...

I think the obvious is that while the Obama Administration has been great for social justice, it has been a disaster economically. The rich have gotten richer, but most everyone else have gotten worse economically. And much of this can be laid at the feet of Obama and the Democrats. Longest recession since the Great Depression, both greatly extended by feckless economic policies. So, looking back to the last ecomically successful Dem Admn makes perfect sense. Never mind that a god part of Clinton's economic success came from a Republic Congress, and part from the massive downsizing of our military after the fall of the USSR and the First Gulf War. Obama, of course, tried this, but the difference is that we are still fighting on two fronts, and so both the Air Force and the Marines have more and more unflyable planes, and fewer pilots.

Michael K said...

Bill Clinton's "success" in the economy followed the 1994 election which ended the Democrats control of Congress for 40 years. Maybe she should ask Newt Gingrich to be her VP instead of Trump's.

Gingrich got them going but his ego expanded until it popped and Hastert and DeLay ran the Congress into the ground trying to imitate Democrats' relationship with lobbyists.

The "K Street Project."

Original Mike said...

I absolutely detest that song. Did not know it was about Caroline Kennedy.

Paul Snively said...

Am I the only one who saw Bill Clinton's hand and thought of this?

David Begley said...

This is the beginning of the end for Hillary. How could she cross Barack? This gives him license to let DOJ indict Hillary. And then Obama moves Biden in as the nominee so we can have Obama's third term.

And Bill doesn't have the time to fix the economy. Too busy jetting around on the Lolita Express.

David said...

"He knows how to do it."

And she doesn't.

Plus Bill had good luck with his timing.

Gahrie said...

1,2,4,5.....

Wince said...

"SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!"

Not the lyric from "Sweet Caroline" but Bill Clinton with Sweet Monica.

Bob Boyd said...

One of Hillary's first acts as President will be to get herself some head from a young, female intern in the Oval Office.

Original Mike said...

From Wikipedia:

"In a 2007 interview, Diamond revealed the inspiration for his song was John F. Kennedy's daughter, Caroline, who was eleven years old at the time it was released.[4][5] Diamond sang the song to her at her 50th birthday celebration in 2007.[6] However, in a 2014 interview, he revealed that the song was not, in fact, named after Kennedy. Instead, Diamond was originally going to name the song after his wife Marsha, but later decided that he wanted a three-syllable name and chose Caroline. Thus the song was not named after any specific person named Caroline.[7]

On December 21, 2011, in an interview on CBS's The Early Show, Diamond said that a magazine cover photo of Caroline Kennedy as a young child on a horse with her parents[8] in the background created an image in his mind, and the rest of the song came together about five years after seeing the picture."

So Neal Diamond is a bullshitter. Figures.

WisRich said...

Nothing screams graft louder than putting Bill Clinton in charge of the economy. GCI is going need a lot of offshore banks: Panama maybe?

Jacinto said...

Bruce Hayden,
Also, if I may add, during the late 90's, part of the reason for the high level of tech employment is due to the massive investments both in the private and public sectors due to the "millenium bug". Most of the legacy computer systems were operating with with just two digits for the year data field. Almost all computer operating systems and applications were re-programmed because there were real fear that they would all crash when the clock strikes after midnight on Dec. 31, 1999.

tim maguire said...

The economic success Obama represents?!?

?!?

I'm not surprised she's not running with that. Though you're right that Trump will not pass up the opportunity to point out that the "First Woman President" has ridden on the coattails of men her entire life.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

That's incredibly lame. It makes her look weak and dependent. Its almost as if she is actively trying to drive away the young women who already prefer Bernie.

Oh, and I agree with Bruce Hayden (never thought I would say that) the economy is great if you were already rich, everyone else, not so much.

Saw this on Foreign Affairs yesterday.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/gallerys/2016-05-10/americas-weedpatches

My first thought was that Trump should start visiting these homeless encampments. After all, if Trump is elected POTUS the press will try to pin them on him. Get ahead of that, point out that in an America made great again people would have work and wouldn't be reduced to such penury.

The head explosions of the Progressive MSM would be glorious.

Wince said...

"Putting Bill Clinton back in charge of the economy."

Actual Footage!

Ron Winkleheimer said...

during the late 90's, part of the reason for the high level of tech employment is due to the massive investments both in the private and public sectors due to the "millenium bug"

As an IT guy who left the army in 1995 and went into the public sector and saw what happened after Y2K (bunches of layoffs and massive outsourcing and H2B visa holders in conditions similar to Indentured Servitude) I can testify to the truth of this.

Before 2000 it was not unusual to see 18 and 19 year old people who could program in C# on huge projects making great money, afterwards, nope.

pm317 said...

Her campaign makes me sad. I guess it is difficult to move on from an injustice or let go of a dream. Her time was 2008.

BTW, Mrs. Sanders ran some Burlington College down to the ground financially and they can't extricate themselves from the debt she accumulated as its president. So people think Bernie can run this country? If Hillary's campaign makes me sad, this man's campaign makes me angry -- some old fucker who didn't even have a job until he was 40 and has always been on government dole and he and his supporters think he can run this country.

cubanbob said...

The Hillarity ensues. First the Third Obama Term. Now the pivot to the Third Bill Clinton Term. She is going to have get Newt to run as her VP and campaign for a Republican Congress to get the 90's economy nostalgia tour band together again.

bagoh20 said...

Everybody is a conservative now. It's a sad sign that so many of us pretty much agree that the best future we can imagine is the past.

Hagar said...

Overthinking it. It was just something nice, warm, and folksy to say on the trail, and reminding all true Democrats that the Clintons come as a couple.

But Bill Clinton ageing gracefully? And with dignity?
Not quite the Clinton style, is it?

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Hillary could try to visit the Obamavilles, but her natural demeanor makes it pretty clear that she is a misanthrope trying to simulate behavior that is a total mystery to her.

Trump on the other hand is a glad-handing kind of guy. He would be in there talking to Matt Mercer and asking him how he ended up there and how could he, Trump, help him out. And it would look totally natural because, despite his flaws, Trump really does seem to be a people person.

Laslo Spatula said...

Donald Dice Trump says:

Hillary is a teapot

short and stout

Huma licks her asshole

and there is a Dead Mouse in her Vagina.

Woah!

People, people: they're just jokes. The Donald likes to joke now and then, alright? It's all in good fun, good fun.

Except for the Dead Mouse part. Dying in Hillary's Vagina wasn't much fun for him, I imagine.

"Oh my God! It's so dark and lonely in here! And dry. I mean, it's REALLY dry in here. And scratchy, like a wool sweater or something. And now I'm stuck. I'm stuck in this woman's dark dry wooly vagina, and I can't breathe. This sucks!"

Poor little fucker, he never had a chance. But he took one for the team, you know? At least there's that...

Woah!

I am Laslo.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Pretty much the definition of an extrovert.

Interacting with people energizes him and he is actually interested in their story.

Much like Bill. Hillary is an introvert. There is nothing wrong about that. I am an introvert. But it really handicaps you if you try to be a politician.

rehajm said...

The economic success US elected officials provide is mostly knowing how to stay out of the way. Bill was pretty good at that after he built a Republican congress.

tim in vermont said...

Get your donations in early! Bill is going to be in charge of handing out the goodies!

Bill in Pasadena said...

Bill Clinton's economy was energized by the explosion of Internet capabilities and, of course, that was Al Gore's doing.

Ann Althouse said...

"Instead, Diamond was originally going to name the song after his wife Marsha, but later decided that he wanted a three-syllable name and chose Caroline. Thus the song was not named after any specific person named Caroline."

That Wikipedia page needs editing. The "thus" isn't justified. Accepting ND's statement as true, he wrote a song to his wife, but he needed a different name. Why did he pick that particular other name? There was one very famous Caroline then, and it was unusual to pronounce it the way she did and the way he did. (Normally, people pronounced it the same as Carolyn.)

tim in vermont said...

The photographer could have stepped back and caught all 20 people there.

tim in vermont said...

Wikipedia is not a reliable source.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Has anyone ever said what Bill Clinton did, exactly, to cause the booming 90s economy? Obama has already tried raising taxes. No joy there. Everything else Clinton did -- deregulate the banks, sign every free trade policy that came across his desk -- is anathema to the democrats of 2016.
Maybe killing the Branch Davidians revved up the economy?

Ann Althouse said...

There was already a famous and great "Caroline" song. "Caroline, No," one of the very best Beach Boys songs. From Wikipedia:

"It was initially written as "Carol, I Know". When spoken, however, Brian Wilson heard this as "Caroline, No." After the confusion was resolved, the pair decided to keep the new title, feeling that it brought a poignant earnestness to the song's sad melody."

That song was written about a real person named Carol:

"Asher says his contributions were inspired by his former girlfriend, who had moved to New York and cut her hair: "I had recently broken up with my high school sweetheart who was a dancer and had moved to New York to make the big time on Broadway. When I went east to visit her a scant year after the move, she had changed radically. Yes, she had cut her hair. But she was a far more worldly person, not all for the worse. Anyway, her name was Carol."

bagoh20 said...

You gotta hand it to American women who jostle for the chance to touch a serial abuser of women who is most famous for publicly cheating on his wife with a young intern. Now get out there and vote you independent empowered chicks.

tim in vermont said...

I'm writing a song about Marsha, but nothing comes to mind but stuff that works great with "Caroline, that's my story and I'm sticking with it wifey.

Martha said...

So Hillary! needs Bill's help to run the country.
So much for women ruling the world.
Hillary! is where women's dreams go to die.

MadisonMan said...

The photographer could have stepped back and caught all 20 people there.

Heh. Excellent.

Did the Press and Secret Service outnumber the regular people? Hard to tell from the picture of that small venue, so I'd say yes.

jr565 said...

So how did he do it (revitalize the economy)? By deregulating the banks? By starting the housing bubble? By working with Republicans? By working with Wall Street? NAFTA? Was Bernie Sanders, in fact, right about Hillary?
Trump may in fact run to the left on the economy compared to Hillary.

This year, politics is truly making strange bed fellows. I think Bill clinton would actually be better than Trump on the economy. However, to get Clinton you also have to get everything else that comes along with Hillary. Namely all the leftism. So its not worth it. And if Clinton could work with republicans I don't see why Trump couldn't be pushed into their direction as well. So, ultimately Id have to go Trump.

MikeR said...

What he did definitely worked: he was president when the World Wide Web was invented. Now he just has to do that again.
It's generally pretty silly how people assume that the president is responsible for the whole economy; most things happen way out of the president's control. It is possible for a president to mess it up, though, or to undo some barriers.
Reagan is a pretty good example of a president who had a major impact when he put an end to runaway inflation. As was FDR, major major, although there's plenty of disagreement on whether the impact was positive or remarkably negative, extending the Depression for an extra decade.

Original Mike said...

That damn song is popular in Australia. I've heard it in bars (the patrons like to sing along), we heard it at a Sydney Roosters rugby match (fans sang along), and I heard it over the PA system in a Woolies in the Bush (no one sang along there, thank God). I go to the ends of the Earth and it follows me there. It haunts me.

robother said...

Hillary even added "[Bill's] going to have to come out of retirement." Its always two for the price of one with these Clintons. But only one has what it takes to get elected President on his own.

jr565 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

"There was already a famous and great "Caroline" song. "Caroline, No," one of the very best Beach Boys songs. From Wikipedia:"

There's also "Oh, Caroline" by cheap Trick. One of the catchier songs on their best album In Color and Black and White.

tommyesq said...

That seems like an end-run around the 22nd Amendment - elect me and I will delegate all powers to a former two-term president?

Barry Dauphin said...

1. Is there a cabinet post called "In Charge of Fixing the Economy"?
2. Didn't Bill try to put Hillary in charge of healthcare? How did that work out?
3. One thing we know about the hand in the picture: it is not Adam Smith's invisible hand.

Anonymous said...

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Y2K and the Web Browser. Mosaic 1A5 from CERN and UIUC was released in late 93 and the first commercial web sites started popping up in 94-95

Laslo Spatula said...

Lou Reed "Caroline Says II":

Caroline says
as she gets up from the floor
You can hit me all you want to
but I don't love you anymore

Caroline says
while biting her lip
Life is meant to be more than this
and this is a bum trip

But she's not afraid to die
all her friends call her "Alaska"
When she takes speed, they laugh and ask her

What is in her mind
what is in her mind

She put her fist through the window pane
It was such a funny feeling


I am Laslo.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

@The Drill SGT

I remember downloading Mosaic for the first time. Remember Gopher? And AltaVista? And people asking how you knew about all these sites and you would send them a list someone had compiled?

And of course when the Internet was released to the private sector there would be no advertising and it would usher in a new error of love and peace and cooperation and national boundaries would be meaningless.

Oh, and since the Internet was separate from meat space, meat space laws would not be applicable.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

It's always, Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

Ron Winkleheimer said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W03g0HZwEzQ

Molly said...

I do wish a Hillary supporter would address the argument that Hillary has so many flaws as Feminist Icon. She has succeeded on the coattails of her husband (Lurleen Wallace is not a feminist icon). She was willing to let others (and probably did herself) "blame the victims" of her husband's sexual harassment and misogyny. And now she is in effect saying, "Oh I'm just a girl, I'll need manly help to do the hard parts of being President."

Finally, I can't shake the suspicion that Hillary's run for the President is really propelled by Bill's desperation to find an alternative to his one-line description in the history books as the President who was impeached for getting oral sex and lying about it. Hillary's election will at least raise the possibility that his one-line description would be expanded to two lines and include the only President other than FDR to have more than 2 terms. But this also doesn't square very well with being a feminist icon.

I really think feminists need to ask themselves, "Is this the best we can do as a first woman President?"

John henry said...

You know who else's wife ran on the basis that her husband would be calling the shots?

Yup. Mrs (not Ms) George C. (Where the C stands for Caucasian) Wallace

You know, the governor of Alabama who famously "stood in the schoolhouse door" to prevent black students from entering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rd6xfGg5s

Now let me see, what party was he? Seems like it started with a D but I just can't remember for certain.

And as a pallet cleanser, here is Democratic Party National Committeeman Bull Connor with his dogs. Everybody on the internet likes dog photos, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPrHwmiUMH0

He was such a nice man that when those protesters looked like they might be getting hot marching, he sprayed them down with water

John Henry

Rick said...

those of us who do may not have any idea what Bill Clinton did that worked, and what worked back then might not be what would work now.

A President's economic impact is almost entirely limited to not screwing it up. Bill had the luck to be President as the internet was developed and the luck to exit shortly before the tech bubble collapse. NAFTA was a significant step, but almost all the impact occurred after he was out of office.

cubanbob said...

Bill was the first black president. Who is to say he can't be the first woman president?

Ron Winkleheimer said...

NAFTA was a significant step, but almost all the impact occurred after he was out of office.

And to a lot of people, the impact was negative.

John henry said...

Molly,

One of the problems with electing Hilary! will be similar to electing Obama. She will be viewed as such a spectacularly bad president that it will be very hard for any other woman to get elected for a long, long, time.

"Well, we tried a woman as president once. Just didn't work out. Apparently women just lack that certain something needed to be successful."

As a liberal, I think President Obama has been tremendously successful:

A much more heavily armed populace.
A populace that is much more aware of their right to be armed.
States recognizing and supporting those rights
Tea party movement
Serious sympathy, if not support for liberals and libertarians
Ron Paul (2008 & 2012), Rand Paul and Ted Cruz as seriou liberal candidates in a mainstream party
A fierce distrust of Washington DC
It is dying slowly but Obamacare has proven the folly of govt healthcare and probably killed it for a century or more.

And so on.

In 2008 in most states it was hard to get a concealed carry permit. In 2016 12 states do not even require a permit for concealed carry. Most other states require issuance of a permit is certain basics are met.

I don't know whether Obama is just incompetent or a Koch brothers mole. I lean more and more to the latter but it really doesn't matter, does it? If you wanted to push the country in a more liberal direction, it is hard to imagine a more successful 8 years.

John Henry

TrespassersW said...

Who the hell decided that president's spouses should be in charge of anything beyond the seating arrangements at White House dinners? Screw that notion.

Rick said...

Ron Winkleheimer said...
And to a lot of people, the impact was negative.


A lot more people think the impact on them was negative than are actually correct about that belief.

Ron said...

Using Bill's example let's all go to Pedophile Island and talk about the economy, sort of a scuzzball Davos!

Bob Boyd said...

Hillary also plans to put a rooster in charge of the dawn "because, you know, he knows how to do it".

Lewis Wetzel said...

So, would it be more or less ridiculous for first spouse Bill Clinton to redesign public school lunches? Aren't he and Michelle Obama equally qualified to do it?

damikesc said...

She assumes Democrats won't notice the near 100% disconnect between Bill's economic policies and the demands of their voting base.

And it does belie her status as a feminist "icon". Running to let her husband run the show sounds awfully pathetic.


BTW, Mrs. Sanders ran some Burlington College down to the ground financially and they can't extricate themselves from the debt she accumulated as its president. So people think Bernie can run this country? If Hillary's campaign makes me sad, this man's campaign makes me angry -- some old fucker who didn't even have a job until he was 40 and has always been on government dole and he and his supporters think he can run this country.


Should Trump run on the irony that Bernie's wife's college can declare bankruptcy...but its students cannot do so to remove their debt from that college?

What he did definitely worked: he was president when the World Wide Web was invented. Now he just has to do that again.

He also did nothing as accounting became a quite well-known joke...

SteveR said...

@Bob Boyd perfect

Ron Winkleheimer said...

A lot more people think the impact on them was negative than are actually correct about that belief.

Well then, guess the messaging geniuses in the Democrat party should get right on that.

Original Mike said...

Damn. Now I've got "Sweet Caroline" in my head.

eric said...

She has already backed off from this. Poor Bill.

Rick said...

Ron Winkleheimer said...
Well then, guess the messaging geniuses in the Democrat party should get right on that.


It seems they're in a tight spot. His party is dead set against the only economically positive thing he ever did. You'd think Hillary (or at least her people) would have realized this isn't going to end well. I suspect this will be another win for Trump. He has the ability to burst these nonsense bubbles which have so confounded other Republican candidates.

The decision to go ahead regardless demonstrates how superficial her appeal is, believing the association with good times will sway people but no one will notice the underlying issue. This ties back to her "reset" button with Putin. She and her supporters believe she is incredibly competent and sophisticated, but her tactics are those of a junior high Student Government candidate.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Wow, and I thought "Hillary who? Oh, Bill's wife!" was just a sexist joke.

Sounds like a really solid idea, economy-wise, though: we sure could use another tech bubble, housing bubble, lax accounting standards bubble, etc. We're due!

Ron Winkleheimer said...

She and her supporters believe she is incredibly competent and sophisticated, but her tactics are those of a junior high Student Government candidate.

Experience is a hard school, but a fool will learn at no other. Unless you are Hillary Clinton. Then you make sure everyone around you is a sycophant who won't challenge you on anything because they are even more clueless than you.

Etienne said...

Our Priest really was in a hell-fire Baptist mood last weekend.

"Dear Lord!" he commanded, arms extended toward heaven, eyes looking wild...

"Without you, we are but dust!"

My daughter laughed out loud... My wife gave her a stern look.

"Butt Dust!" she said, then giggled some more...

All the way home, she would say Butt Dust and I would laugh. Then I would say Butt Dust and she would laugh.

Finally, my wife said "Enough! ...or I'll kick both of your asses!"

MaxedOutMama said...

Oh, geeze. I wish I hadn't seen this.

This election cycle has been dispiriting for women on several levels, but "If you elect me I'll get my husband to fix it" is just excruciating. So now the feminist rallying cry is "Let my husband do it?" This is supposed to be motivating for women?

You are right to point out that it doesn't particularly make sense. I grant that. In many ways our current ills date back to initiatives that began under Clinton. What, are we going to fix things by making the banks even bigger? I don't think so. We can't blow another dot.com bubble; even the iPhone has lost its pizzazz.

{Holds head, groans, wanders off stage wailing}

Fred Drinkwater said...

"in charge of revitalizing the economy."
Yeah, right.
Many years ago, during an extended spell of decent growth in the US, a European finance minister was interviewed saying (approximately) "I can't understand how the US does it. There's no one in charge of the economy over there!" and I thought to myself "No shit, and that's WHY." And this was way before Fox Butterfield.

knox said...

That photo makes me think of Day of the Locusts.

sy1492 said...

Is Bill Clinton going to create another dotcom bubble? Because his success was basically this ..a mirage that turned out to be the dotcom bubble.

Levi Starks said...

Why would an already vital Obama economy need revitalizing?

jg said...

You'd rather have Bill Clinton's third term than Obama's? She can be that, too. Hot sauce.

Dan Hossley said...

Has Bill officially endorsed Hillary?

JohnGalt said...

When I saw this yesterday the first person I thought of was Lurleen Wallace, George Wallace's first wife. He couldn't succeed himself as governor of Alabama, so he had her run for governor with a wink-wink about who would be the REAL governor.

I know Bill promised two-for-one when he first ran. Is she promising one-and-a-half (Bill plus whatever she does when she doesn't bake cookies)?

Rusty said...

Levi Starks said...
Why would an already vital Obama economy need revitalizing?

According to one of the usual suspects it's a greatest economy since FDR! And the ACA? A total success!

Birkel said...

Bezos' Post and CarlosSlims Times

Dude1394 said...

Because she fears she is as incompetent as Obama has been. She is just facing reality.

Brando said...

Anyone wanting Hillary to win this election should see things like this as warning signs--this is exactly the sort of tone deaf campaigning that will lead to ruin.

1) Anyone who might be persuaded that Bill can "fix the economy" is already in the tank for Hillary, and associates her with him anyway. To come out bluntly and say "Bill will be taking care of this" has all the beta-female messaging of "vote for me because of my husband" that no one wants in a first female president.

2) Anyone not so easily convinced that Bill made the economy great in the '90s (that is, anyone who actually understands the economy and presidents' limited abilities to affect it) will if anything be dismayed that she somehow thinks he has some magic alchemy that will fix the economy.

3) Hillary could have run as the heir to Clintonism had she stuck with embracing moderation and "New Democrat" economic policies (modest tax hikes, welfare reform, free trade) but instead got spooked by Sanders and comes across as neither populist nor moderate. Like conservatives, moderate Democrats have no candidate this year.

MAJMike said...

Wow! She's so tough and competent that she has to get her husband to do the hard work.

Big Mike said...

Now — at the risk of seeming to reject Obama (and the economic success he represents) ...

Good thing I had put down my coffee cup before reading that! Barack Obama's economy might seem like a success to a tenured professor in a college town who foolishly gets her news from the New York Times and Washington Post, but there are lots of places you can go where the economy has not been this bad since the Depression.

“Hillary Clinton’s statement that if elected president she’d put Bill Clinton ‘in charge of revitalizing the economy … because, you know, he knows how to do it’ suggests she’s no longer touting the successes of the Obama economy, or even linking herself to it,” said Robert B. Reich

Not that Reich believes that the Obama economy is all that successful, given his latest book, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, which purports to address the following:

"America was once celebrated for and defined by its large and prosperous middle class. Now, this middle class is shrinking, a new oligarchy is rising, and the country faces its greatest wealth disparity in eighty years. Why is the economic system that made America strong suddenly failing us, and how can it be fixed?"

Reich's previous book, Beyond Outrage is more of the same, though he strangely fails to note the relationship between Washington's economic policies under a Democrat president and his observation that "America’s economy and democracy are working for the benefit of an ever-fewer privileged and powerful people."

That seems to be based on nothing but hope that we remember a good economy during the Clinton years, but not everyone remembers those years, and those of us who do may not have any idea what Bill Clinton did that worked, and what worked back then might not be what would work now.

I remember those years very well, and what I remember most is how we got a good economy based on the dot-com bubble (which eventually popped) and Bill's triangulation between Newt Gingrich's Congress and his own party's left-wing lunatic fringe. Paul Ryan is not Newt Gingrich, and absent Newt to play off it's unlikely that the Bill Clinton triangulation will work again (make that "ever work again").

I think it's also true that part of the Clinton economy amounted to writing checks that have since come due, and then some. Besides NAFTA there's the abolition of Glass-Steagall, but most importantly there was the push on sub-prime mortgages coupled with the failure to build up Fannie Mae's reserves. That check came due big time in 2008.

Bill Clinton appears to be an old, frail man. Let him grow old gracefully.

Dissipation can do that to you. He's actually younger than I am by a few weeks but looks years older.

Big Mike said...

PS: You can buy Reich's books through the Althouse Amazon portal.

Fritz said...

Is Bill Clinton going to create another dotcom bubble? Because his success was basically this ..a mirage that turned out to be the dotcom bubble.

Politicians don't mind bubbles. They get to collect taxes as the bubble inflates, and blame their enemies when they pop.

Fernandinande said...

It's oddly confusing which hand is Bill's:

It's the hand in someone else's pocket.

Todd said...

JohnGalt said...

I know Bill promised two-for-one when he first ran. Is she promising one-and-a-half (Bill plus whatever she does when she doesn't bake cookies)?

5/17/16, 11:15 AM


Bake cookies? I don't even think she knows how to even turn on a stove. Hell, she can't seem to work more than one phone so what makes anyone think she can work a stove?

Etienne said...

Clinton had the Line-Item Veto.

The court removed that privilege.

John Salmon said...

Just like being at Fenway.

BTW, my first thought was HRC's trying to say, in her usual ham-fisted manner, that she was just kidding when she decided to go along w/ Bernie and reject Bill's economic legacy-the only good part of his Presidency.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

David Begley @ 8:17: "This is the beginning of the end for Hillary. How could she cross Barack? This gives him license to let DOJ indict Hillary. And then Obama moves Biden in as the nominee so we can have Obama's third term."

Looking over Amendment XXII to the Constitution, seems there is nothing to prevent Biden running for President with BHO as V.P. If Biden were elected, and left office for whatever reason the day after being sworn in, BHO would fill the remainder of the Term.

Bilwick said...

I despise the Clintons (being a liberty addict, I dislike all statists but the Clintons manager to add an extra repulsive level of sleaze and dishonesty to their statism); but this may actually be good news for the economy, if Hillary is elected. When hubby Bubba was in the White House, some attributed the good economy to "the Lewinsky Effect:" i.e., Bill Clinton getting so embroiled in sex scandal, and Queen Cacklepants getting so wrapped up in harassing the accusers, that the First Couple didn't have the time and energy to screw up the economy as much as they would have otherwise. Maybe Hillary wants to dangle the carrot of a new Lewinsky Effect before the voters.

MikeR said...

"seems there is nothing to prevent Biden running for President with BHO as V.P."
It did occur to me that Bill Clinton would be a really interesting VP pick for Donald Trump.

robother said...

"Is Bill Clinton going to create another dotcom bubble?"

I can hear it now: Bill Gates, Tim Cook et al. simulcast on the World Wide Web and every cable news channel announcing that, despite replacing every Y2K infected software in the world, the software people screwed up and now the entire civilized world will come to a complete halt on 02/02/2020. Software now encoded in every airliner, car power plane and appliance as well as computer, cellphone and other internet-accessible device will need to be fixed, or better yet, why not just buy a new one and save the trouble?

It could work.

DanTheMan said...

Bill and BHO would have a huge 12th amendment issue:
"No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States."

Rae said...

I'm still hoping for the ultimate electoral train wreck. Hillary is nominated, then gets indicted. The DNC parachutes in Biden/Warren as a substiute. Bernie and Kasich run third party. On election day, nobody has 270 votes and Obama declares martial law, sparking the civil war.

And then the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupts.

hombre said...

She couldn't very well say she was going to put Nest Gingrich in charge, now could she.

jr565 said...

You're gettin' twooooo for the price of 1. Ah yeah, and I know!

Dig this....

https://youtu.be/0JCpW9jB9JM

tim in vermont said...

To be fair, there had to have been at least 100 people there, on a community college campus. The low turnout was probably due to the fact that community colleges have become jaded by all of the celebrity visits. That was Oregon too, all those people in the picture are going to vote for Bernie.

Here is Bill in Kentucky, drawing 21, as hand counted by the photog:

http://tammybruce.com/2016/05/bill-clinton-rally-attended-by-thousands-er-21-people.html

tim in vermont said...

Kind of like the Cruz rallies in Indiana. Plus, as has been noted throughout the thread, the Democrat Party has repudiated Clintonomics. If you want that, the closest you are going to get is Trump.

Saint Croix said...

Why did Hillary say she's going to put Bill Clinton "in charge of revitalizing the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it"?

Calling Dr. Freud! Calling Dr. Freud!

Hillary sees herself, and all women, as the economy. She wants to put Bill in charge of fucking the economy. He knows how to do it! He'll fuck the hell out of that economy! The economy will be refreshed and glowing, after Bill is done with it.

Bill Clinton appears to be an old, frail man. Let him grow old gracefully.

I'm not in the mood. Leave me alone. I want to watch the game. It's nap time.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It's just her way of admitting that she doesn't know shit - about economics also.

Maybe it was also a way to tantalize all the old ladies who continue pining for Old Whitehead Billjob as if he were still some kind of geriatric sex symbol.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ain't no reason why either of those two K-Street floozies can't figure out how to create the beginnings of a bubble on her watch, also.

It stands to reason that they have no other choice, actually. They're not going to get government to work better. They won't institute healthy economic policies. They're not going to get rid of the graft.

So the only answer is to create another giant, economy-crashing bubble.

They did it before and they'll do it again.

mockturtle said...

It's just her way of admitting that she doesn't know shit

Actually, I think she does know shit. But that's about all she knows.

walter said...

Blogger Big Mike said...
PS: You can buy Reich's books through the Althouse Amazon portal.
--
Hell, you can have mine from my UW upbringing for FREE!(+S/H) How's that Latin American boom coming, Reich?

Danno said...

Hillary has a pretty awesome Honey-Do list.

And you are right that Bill looks old, kind of like 69 going on 90.