>Doug Henwood wrote:
>> A minor detail: Clinton won two elections, and went out with a 60%
>> approval rating.
>
>So? I don't get what this is supposed to show?
-Max said Clintonomics was bad politics. There's evidence to the -contrary. That doesn't mean it's just or wise, of course.
Of course (to take a contrarian position from my usual Clinton defense), the result was Clinton getting reelected and the Democrats losing both houses of Congress. I will always argue for the lesser evilism of supporting Clinton over Dole, and even highlight some of his decent politics, but that is DESPITE his support for NAFTA and welfare reform and such.
Especially in the case of NAFTA, especially making that a priority over health care reform, it was extremely bad politics. He demobilized his base tremendously by essentially adopting a wedge issue against his own party, which hurt tremendously in 1994 with lower turnout.
-- Nathan Newman