A Penchant for Taking Credit, Ignoring Facts, Muddles Political Reality

One of my favorite political cartoons from the 1996 election featured President Clinton gazing out the window while an aide commented, “That’s a beautiful sunset, Mr. President.”

Clinton’s reply: “Thank you.”

I was reminded of the president’s penchant for taking credit for everything under the sun as I watched his address to the Democratic National Convention. What he and Al Gore didn’t mention is that almost every one of their “accomplishments” was the result of legislation passed by the Republican Congress--and opposed by the Clinton-Gore administration at the time.

The real truth is that at best, the administration has been a not-so-innocent bystander as the Republican Congress went about the hard work of balancing the budget, stimulating the economy, stopping the Democrats’ 30-year raid on the Social Security surplus, turning $3 trillion in projected deficits into $4 trillion in projected surpluses, reforming welfare and rebuilding the military.

Here’s a point-by-point:

* Economy. There is no question but that the economy is in better shape in 2000 than it was in 1992. But then again, it didn’t seriously start improving until 1995, the year the Republican Congress was sworn in.

In claiming credit for the balanced budget, the Clinton-Gore administration credits the $240-billion tax increase that the president forced through the Democrat-controlled Congress in 1993 over unanimous Republican opposition. But the administration’s own 1995 budget projections belie this claim.

In 1995, the administration projected that we would add $300 billion to the federal deficit every year for the next decade, adding $3 trillion to the national debt. In other words, the administration basically acknowledged that its deficit-reduction solution had failed. In fact, all the 1993 tax hike did was slow the economic expansion that had begun in mid-1991 under President George Bush.

What really got the economy in gear was the budget-balancing efforts of the newly elected Republican Congress, including the 1995 Balanced Budget Act and appropriations bills that slowed spending growth. Clinton vetoed both, causing the partial government shutdown of 1995-’96.

Although the government shutdown hurt Republicans politically, it resulted in a freeze in government spending that year and convinced the financial markets that Congress was serious about balancing the budget. That prompted interest rates to drop 2% and set the stage for the economic expansion we enjoy today.

Don’t take my word for it. The 2000 Almanac of American Politics, published by the respected and nonpartisan National Journal, says, “Without the 1995 zero increase in spending, the budget would not be balanced today.”

* Social Security. Clinton and Gore contend that providing taxpayers with individual retirement account-type options with a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes is a risky scheme, notwithstanding the fact that Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, has publicly supported the concept.

Here’s what they don’t tell you: Democrat-controlled Congresses raided the Social Security surplus to fund general government programs every year since 1969. It took a Republican Congress to stop the raid in fiscal year 1999. In 1993, Clinton and the Democratic Congress increased taxes on Social Security benefits received by “high-income” seniors (those making more than $34,000 a year). Considering this background, I don’t think the Clinton-Gore administration or Democrats have much standing as defenders of Social Security or the elderly.

* Middle-class tax cuts. In his speech, Clinton took credit for the $500 per child tax credit passed by the Republican Congress in 1997. Yet he vetoed this tax cut twice in 1995. He doesn’t remind you that he and Gore campaigned in 1992 on a platform of middle-class tax cuts, but abandoned that promise before they were inaugurated.

* Welfare reform. Clinton and Gore tout the success of the 1996 reform, which has cut welfare rolls by 50%. They don’t tell you that Clinton vetoed virtually identical welfare reform bills twice in 1995 after they were passed by the Republican Congress. Clinton signed it the third time around, during the heat of the 1996 presidential election.

* Military spending. The president said he rebuilt the military after President Bush cut it. True, Bush did reduce military spending to a prudent level, after the Cold War had ended and the threat to the United States receded. What Clinton didn’t tell you is that his administration reduced it even more during the two years of Democratic control of Congress, and fought GOP efforts to rebuild it. It wasn’t until this year that the administration submitted a reasonable defense spending plan.

The president summed up his message by stating, “America’s success was not a matter of chance. It was a matter of choice.” I couldn’t agree more. But the choice was made in 1994, when voters chose a Republican Congress. The rest is history. It’s up to Clinton and Gore to engage in the revisionism.