In Today’s Politics, Bill Clinton Would Be A Tea-Party Republican

Now that you’ve wiped off your keyboards, consider this:

Former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that the Republican Party is embracing “ideology over evidence” and pushing out pragmatic voices that would make even his White House successor seem like a liberal.

In light of news that only 25% of us actually trust the Government to do what is right, consider the reasons for this phenomenon. The collective disdain across the country is due to excessive spending, crippling deficits and national debt, and the unheeded demands of the Tea Partiers that the Federal Government stop spending and actually CUT programs and diminish the Federal largesse.

As the CNN poll clearly indicates, we the People do not believe the Government even cares about these things, let alone whether or not they have any real intention of trying to address them. Yet, back in 1996 in a post-SOTU radio address, these are exactly the sorts of issues then-President (and apparently aspiring Tea Partier) Bill Clinton committed himself to trying to address:

These are the seven challenges I set forth Tuesday night — to strengthen our families, to renew our schools and expand educational opportunity, to help every American who’s willing to work for it achieve economic security, to take our streets back from crime, to protect our environment, to reinvent our government so that it serves better and costs less, and to keep America the leading force for peace and freedom throughout the world.

We will meet these challenges, not through big government. The era of big government is over, but we can’t go back to a time when our citizens were just left to fend for themselves.

We will meet them by going forward as one America, by working together in our communities, our schools, our churches and synagogues, our workplaces across the entire spectrum of our civic life.

As we move forward with tomorrow’s challenges, we also must take care of yesterday’s unfinished business. First, we must balance the budget. In the 12 years before I took office the deficit skyrocketed and our national debt quadrupled.

I came to Washington determined to act, and we did. In the first three years of our administration — thanks to the Deficit Reduction Act of 1993 — we cut the deficit nearly in half. In fact, our budget would be in balance today were it not for the interest payments we have to make on the debt that accumulated in the 12 years before I took office.

Now it’s time to finish the job. As you know, for some time, I’ve been working with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to forge a balanced budget that protects our values. Though significant differences remain between our two plans, Republicans and I have enough cuts in common to balance the budget in seven years and to provide a modest tax cut without devastating Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment and without raising taxes on working families.

So, again, last Tuesday, I asked Congress to join with me to make the cuts we agree on. Let’s give the American people the balanced budget they deserve with a modest tax cut and the lower interest rates and brighter hope for the future it will bring.

My door is open. Let’s get back to work.

I’ve heard a lot of that before…like, say, at the 9/12 rally I just attended in Washington DC…with a bunch of these crazed Tea Party fanatics that are rabidly embracing “ideology over evidence” allegedly.

Yes Mr. Clinton, in today’s America George Bush would be far too left of the remedies we believe are necessary for America’s Obama-induced ills. You, on the other hand…at least the 1996 version of you…seems to be exactly what the Tea Party folks had in mind when they demanded a change in leadership.

Can Bubba run for President if he switches party affiliations? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Note: This article originates at Liberty.Com]