(another wrote:)
>Perhaps spending would have gone up if he
>(and Hillary) had gotten it together on health care. The
>lost opportunity for single payer then is one of the biggest
>domestic goofs that Clinton had.
>Barkley Rosser
From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com>
For a guy credited with phenomenal political instincts, Clinton behaved in a puzzling way for sure at the time of that national health care fiasco. The cynical (perhaps accurate) view would be that Clinton had no serious interesting in overhauling the national health care system, that he was been an industry tool right along. But giving him the benefit of the doubt here and assuming a real overhaul was his intention, there is no question he botched the job.
(End of quote)
I always figured that Clinton was simply learning. He may have been the hottest politician in Arkansas, but he was in a pond about 40 times bigger as president. And he had to learn the political terrain. Meanwhile (IMHO) not only were the Republicans in Congress, the 'think tanks', etc. gunning for him, but the Democratic Congressional 'barons' didn't think much of him, either. Remember that his first budget passed not only with no Republican votes, but with a few defecting Democrats.
Barry