Clinton's 1st 2 years were fairly simular to Obama's. Way Left program proposals & spending plans including ClintonCare. A lot of it didn'tn pass, even with a Dem. majority. Clinton had promised to do something about the deficits, but said that after studying the problem nothing could be done & X billion $ deficits as far as the eye could see. Clinton's 2 years resulted in Republicans taking both Houses of Congress. The newly elected Republicans sat out to balance the budget & trim spending. After opposing those goals, including a number of vetos, polls showed overwheling support for the Rep. positions & Clinton adopted & now takes credit for the changes in spending. Personally I've never been happy with Bush 2s Big Govt Republicans & thier spending, but it took Obama to show us how Dems can spend money. What remains to be seen is if Obama will move to the Center like Clinton did.

It's hard not to spend money like Obama did when such a sh*tstorm is handed to you by the previous administration. You can't please everyone. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. It's a whole 'nother set of circumstances that make each president's administration a little different.

Currently, and in the future 5 years, the single biggest cause of the deficit is the Bush tax cuts.
Graph: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1680&bih=859

(sorry the link is so long and unwieldy)

Originally Posted by MC Martel

Currently, and in the future 5 years, the single biggest cause of the deficit is the Bush tax cuts.
Graph: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://d2o7bfz2il9cb7.cloudfront.net/main-qimg-755c5ef658139a7b134d3bd5cff75e15&imgrefurl=http://www.quora.com/Vince-DeGeorge&usg=__IPbNd5Uc2R4V29ENQo_prx2QDHM=&h=366& w=301&sz=48&hl=en&start=70&sig2=P8ENwkeDxUDFEPs_QT TiIA&zoom=1&tbnid=EkVb2jyU-quOoM:&tbnh=165&tbnw=136&ei=hNtlTfDYAsrogAfJtKSyDQ &prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgraph%2Bsources%2Bof%2Bdebt%26um%3D1% 26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D859%26tbs%3Disch: 10%2C1482&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=401&oei=fdtlTc2J Ioi6twe__azvDA&page=3&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:70& tx=48&ty=81&biw=1680&bih=859

(sorry the link is so long and unwieldy)

Ha! It was Bush's spending, doubled the debt & then Obama doubled the debt again in 2 yrs. But then Bush spending with Rep. controlled Congress topped in '04 & dropped in 05 & 06. It's been going up ever since the Dems took Congress in 06.

You say that, but the data contradicts what you're saying, it was primarily the revenue lost from the bush tax cuts, plus the recession, that has increased the deficit, the numbers are not with you here George.

from my point of view.
obama is weak, but clinton is sly fox.

Obama was elected on the basis of wonderful rhetoric, not experience, qualification or having a plan.
Obamacare (healthcare) is a disaster that if implemented would bankrupt this country permanently. I watched Cspan one day when a GAO bean-counter testified that the top tax rate--to support Obamacare--by 2050 would be 88%. Bye, bye middle class.
The stimulus package? Lets give a trillion dollars to the banks and mortgage companies that put the economy in the dumper. How many jobs were created by that smooth move?
Thankfully, an alert Federal judge was looking over the healthcare bill and said, "Holy Cow, this thing is Unconstitutional on its face." It is really amazing that all of the lawyers in Congress didn't notice that the government cannot compel people to buy anything, including health insurance. Apparently the Constitutional glitch was so huge that no one saw it. Oops!
We are now into the third year of the second great depression. Obama has proven completely unequal to the task at hand, just as Jimmy Carter did when he was a recession era president.
Hopefully Obama and Carter will have something else in common in 2012, a term in office of four years then honorable retirement.

Yeah, and as far as we know he is faithful to his wife too, or at least not stupid enough to get caught.

Originally Posted by RealNavy

Obama was elected on the basis of wonderful rhetoric, not experience, qualification or having a plan.
Obamacare (healthcare) is a disaster that if implemented would bankrupt this country permanently. I watched Cspan one day when a GAO bean-counter testified that the top tax rate--to support Obamacare--by 2050 would be 88%. Bye, bye middle class.
((Ok, not only would it cut the deficit, this is something thath as been repeatedly shown by bipartisan commisions. Secondly, a top tax rate of 88% would hurt the rich, not the middle class, if you know history, traditionally, high top tax rates have expanded the middle class, like under FDR, Truman, and Ike, that's pretty much undisputed)))
The stimulus package? Lets give a trillion dollars to the banks and mortgage companies that put the economy in the dumper. How many jobs were created by that smooth move?
((Actually TARP was the bailout to the banks, started by bush, and the stimulus package was mostly criticized for economists for not being big enough, it's actually thought that it averted a vastly worse recession))
Thankfully, an alert Federal judge was looking over the healthcare bill and said, "Holy Cow, this thing is Unconstitutional on its face." It is really amazing that all of the lawyers in Congress didn't notice that the government cannot compel people to buy anything, including health insurance. Apparently the Constitutional glitch was so huge that no one saw it. Oops!
((Ok, the argument that this bill is unconstitutional is completely unfounded, frankly, it's a partisan judge trying to hurt a democratic president))
We are now into the third year of the second great depression. Obama has proven completely unequal to the task at hand, just as Jimmy Carter did when he was a recession era president.

((IF you look at the unemployment, GDP figures, or basically any other measurement this is not nearly like the great depression)))

Hopefully Obama and Carter will have something else in common in 2012, a term in office of four years then honorable retirement. ((Doubtful, the republicans have no one of any merit to run))

Check out my retorts in parentheses, basically you're wrong on every point.