Where Was The `Change' During The Clintons' First Two Terms?--Part 15

In their current campaign to secure a third term in the White House, in violation of the spirit of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which limits U.S. Establishment politicians who become the U.S. president to two terms in office), the Clintons are claiming that a third Clinton Administration in Washington, D.C. will bring democratic political “change” to U.S. society. Yet as the following historical column item from Downtown indicates, when Bill Clinton was the U.S. President during the 1990s the Clintons failed to bring democratic political change to U.S. society:

658 Days After The Clintons’ Inauguration: Where’s The Change?

Bill “Bush” Clinton may still not be very popular among either Arab nationalist youth or members of the Woodstock Generation that didn’t attend Oxford or Yale. But 658 days after his inauguration,[ 2008 Democratic Party presidential candidate] Hillary Clinton’s husband is still not willing to follow Nixon’s example and resign from office before being impeached. One reason Bill Clinton is unwilling to resign is because, like former CIA Director Bush I, he enjoys campaigning in foreign countries while the domestic needs of people in the United States are neglected.

Another reason Bill Clinton apparently still intends to cling to public office is that, as Arkansas governor for 12 years, he grew accustomed to living lavishly at the expense of U.S. taxpayers and on the hefty salary Hillary Clinton earned from representing corporate clients. As On The Make: The Rise Of Bill Clinton by Meredith Oakley recalled:

“As governor, all the perks of his office were exempt from federal taxation. In fiscal year 1988 alone, taxpayers spent $783,116.30 a year to support the Clintons. That included a 12-person security staff, food, utilities, maintenance and operation of the Governor’s Mansion…and transportation. It did not include his $35,000-a-year salary and the public relations fund on which there were no spending restrictions. In addition, for each year he served as governor, Clinton received three years of credit toward his state pension. That and the two-for-one credits he received for his two years as attorney general constituted 38 years of retirement credit for the 46-year-old Clinton when he resigned the governorship to become president.

“Anything Clinton wanted or needed that the state or his supporters did not or could not give him, Hillary Clinton provided. With her six-figure income from Rose Law Firm, the dividends generated by most of her investments and the income tax deductions she parlayed out of donating to charity everything from evening dresses to shower curtains to socks, she could have provided a comfortable living for the family even without the tax-free perks of Clinton’s office.

“In 1989 alone, the Clintons claimed charitable and religious contributions of $12,676, which included two pieces of the governor’s underwear valued at $1 each.”

(Downtown 11/9/94)

Next: Where Was The “Change” During The Clintons’ First Two Terms?—Part 16