Political Science - President Clinton and President Obama - Term Paper Example

Political Science Introduction Perhaps because of the proximity of their terms the Presidency of Bill Clinton and the current term of President Obama share a number of striking similarities. Clinton was very committed to his vision and it showed throughout his career. Similarly, Obama remained steadfast on his campaign promise to institute substantial health care reform and saw the successful passage of the Health Care Reform Bill in March 2010. Conversely, there are a number of key factors that differentiate the two presidents’ times in office. Few presidents have both raised more questions about the standing of the presidency and simultaneously presided over a longer period of sustained prosperity than President Clinton. Obama, on the other hand, inherited one of the worst recessions in American history and has struggled to ensure adequate economic progress. Through an examination of key issues in the first two years of President Clinton and President Obama’s terms in office -- including economic, health care, foreign policy, and their appeal to youth culture – this essay considers the extent that the two presidencies can be equated. Obama Presidency Economics When considering economics in the first two years of their presidencies, there are a number of similarities that President Obama and President Clinton experienced. When both Presidents took office the nation was considered to be in a recession period. For President Obama the recession was recognized as perhaps the most severe since the Great Depression and became a central issue of the campaign process. As a result, the stimulus package that was passed early in the Obama Presidency has functioned as a core issue of his presidency, with a fierce debate among Republicans and Democrats continuing to unfold as to the actual efficacy of the program. Even as President Obama has admitted that the financial situation in the country has not fully recovered, his budget indicates that he will continue to pursue his ambitious domestic agenda. In explaining his domestic agenda Obama contests that, “Just as it would be a terrible mistake to borrow against our children’s future to pay our way today, it would be equally wrong to neglect their future by failing to invest in areas that will determine our economic success in this new century.” (Calmers 2010) Obama’s indicates that the country’s deficit will increase this year to its highest post-World War II level, and then gradually decrease over the decade. Obama argues that his budget will save over $1 trillion by ending the previous administration’s tax cuts and by enacting a three year spending freeze. (the spending freeze won’t include spending on health programs, national security, and veteran’s programs) However, the savings are only, “one-fifth of the size of the debt that will pile up from now to 2020.” (Calmers 2010) There are a number of other Obama economic policies that warrant consideration. A major issue in the campaign occured in tax cuts, with Obama promising to alter the countries tax policy so that individuals making $250,000 or more would bear the brunt of the tax burden. Since taking office, Obama has largely kept to this campaign promise. His recent budget indicates that taxes among oil companies and affluent citizens will rise. Small businesses, however, will see large amounts of tax reductions over the next decade. Large budget spending on military equipment will be supplanted by spending on education and civilian research. Spending will continue on the health care system and energy infrastructure. Food and drug research and biomedical technology will also receive increased funding. While NASA’s budget will be further reduced, spending on science will rise as the National Science Foundation will receive, “$7.4 billion, a nearly 8 percent increase from the budget last year.” (Calmers 2010) While Republicans criticize Obama for the rising levels of debt, he argues that his administration will still maintain its goal of reducing the deficit in half before the end of his term in office. When considering debt, Obama’s policies have the debt positioned such that by 2020 the United States’ debt will be roughly 77% of the GDP, a large majority of that money owed to China. This is the highest post-World War II figure, and it is continuing to rise. A number of researchers argue raising taxes on Americans making less than $250,000 is a high possibility considering the fiscal situation; however, the administration counters be arguing this will not occur, and that even enacting such a policy would be impossible the face of Republican opposition. Another key dimension of the President’s budget relies on to-be-appointed bi-partisan commission that will enact further decreases in spending. Many researchers argue this may be difficult to achieve in the face of stark Republican opposition. Clinton Presidency Economics Similar to the recession that President Obama inherited, in 1993 when President Clinton came into office he inherited one of the worst economies America has ever had. (Cronin 1998) Many attributed this to Reagonomics and twelve years of creating less than 175,000 jobs a month. Clinton came in and within the first year raised that level up to 248,000 new jobs a month, the largest change in the job front since the depression. (Cronin 1998) Not only were jobs created, but he gave money back to the middle class, the people who actually benefited from tax returns. He made a substantial change from the Bush and Regan economies, which used trickledown economics. In this economy the top ten percent get most of the tax money back because they supposedly spend more. It has been shown that, the idea doesn’t work. The middle class takes their tax returns and spend it back into the U.S. economy. By buying new cars, houses, and stocks they sparked one of the largest bull markets in history. People forget that before Clinton the stock market had never hit 10,000. While the administration benefited from a new sector in the U.S. economy that focused on fiber optics and computers, they wasted no time and dived in with government funding and support. With the government helping fund the new technology sector, during the first two years of his presidency was able to create more money and jobs. In conjunction with Bill Clinton’s superior people skills, Klein (2003) points out his intelligence in domestic policy. Clinton was an expert in domestic social policy, public housing, and public education. With this expertise Bill Clinton became the leader of a new “third way” form of thinking, also known as a centrist democrat. The new centrist democrat was to accomplish liberal ends by conservative means. Examples proposed by Clinton were the earned income tax credit, welfare reform, and free trade. All of these moneymaking programs would inevitably lead to an immense surplus for the next administration. A political scientist would view Clinton’s policy ideas as conservative. Clinton cut government spending and reformed welfare. He helped North America attain free trade. Clinton led America from the industrial age into the information age. Klein (2003) believes that Clinton does not get as much credit for his truly incredible manipulation of the national budget. His economic policy was always under a dark cloud because of unrelated misfortunes and shortcomings. Clinton was not respected much by either party inside the beltway. Many democrats were against free trade, welfare reform and the earned income tax credit. Health Care In addition to economic issues, the health care reform debate became central issues in both Barack Obama’s and Bill Clinton’s early presidencies. When Obama took office increasing health costs were greatly centered on the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institute of Health. Obama ensured that both of these institutions received multi-billion dollar increases in funding. Obama’s proposed spending cuts may be difficult to enact in Congress. Republicans criticize Obama for not, “make(ing) the really hard choices about entitlement programs — Medicare and Medicaid, especially — and about taxes that most budget analysts say are essential to cut annual deficits and to begin paying down an accumulated debt.” (Calmers 2010) In any regards, Obama’s passage of the Health Care Reform Bill was a seminal moment in the first two years of his presidency. The health care reform will reportedly save large sums in Medicare; however, the budget indicates that Medicaid will be greatly expanded. The exact extent to which the Health Care Bill will ultimately revolutionize health care within the United States still remains to be discovered, but in any respect the bill’s passage was a historic event and victory over stringent Republican opposition. While President Obama’s passage of the Health Care was a historic event, it was not the first time an administration made a substantial push to institute comprehensive health care reform. Indeed, the first year of the Clinton administration shared the same concern as the Obama administration instituting a health care reform bill. Undertaken, by then First Lady Hillary Clinton, the bill was intended to provide universal health care coverage to all Americans. Similar to the Obama bill, the Clinton health care bill received fervent opposition from Republicans and the health insurance industry. Similar to the later day Obama health care bill, the Clinton was criticized for excessive bureaucracy and incomprehensible complexity. As is well known the Clinton bill ultimately failed and in August 1994 was declared dead by then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. (Klein 2003) The bill’s failure was a major defeat for the early years of the Clinton administration, as it had been made a central issue that Bill Clinton had campaigned on in the 1992 election. Foreign Policy Upon election President Obama was heralded as the American President that would aid in restoring American respect internationally after what many believed was a Bush administration that greatly damaged the United States image abroad. Indeed, soon after his election Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Since his election, his actual success abroad remains a contested issue. In addition to the economic crisis, President Obama also inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Clinton administration dealt with Iraq conflicts and attempted a capture of Osama Bin Laden, these efforts didn’t occur until his second term as president. (Davis 2003) From the beginning of Obama’s Presidency these conflicts in the Middle East were central concerns of his foreign policy. In his inaugural address President Obama indicated that he would begin withdrawing troops from Iraq and that the war in Afghanistan would continue. Indeed, soon after taking office he sent an additional 17,000 troops to the region. The war in Afghanistan has remained a central, yet controversial issue for the Obama Presidency. While a deadline for withdrawal has been given as July 2011, this proclamation has received intense criticism and it is uncertain whether it will ultimately be adhered. In addition to this controversy, General McKrystal had to be replaced with General Petreaus after the former’s inflammatory remarks in Rolling Stone magazine. Another major foreign policy question was the status of Guantanamo Bay. While Obama campaigned on the promise that upon taking office the military base would be shut down, throughout the first two years of his presidency he has gotten away from these initial proclamations. While the Obama administration has instituted a number initiatives that have curbed what they deem human rights violations made by the previous administration, the January 2010 deadline for closure was not met. One thing that Clinton really never got created for was his foreign policy. He was the first president since Nixon to try to open up trade relations with China. China is the largest country in the world and is an untapped resource. The administration lifted some embargos and got trade moving again which was able to put trillions back into both economies. Obama also made foreign policy efforts with China, as in April 2009 Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao established the United States-China Strategic Economic Dialogue. Clinton started the ball rolling in congress and passed the act that started NAFTA. (Klein 2003) This allowed an increase of trade with our neighbors Mexico and Canada. This helped the United States with natural resources like timber from Canada’s huge forests to Mexico’s labor and oil from the gulf. This also allowed the United States to help Mexico in the idea of human rights and working conditions. They still do not have standard a minimum wage, but their facilities are no longer death traps. Israel was an area in foreign diplomacy where the United States has been known just to support the Israelis. This is bad in the Middle East since they are the smallest group. Clinton came in and started talks with both sides for peace. He had equal trust and asked both sides to come together and give up things on both sides. Most talks always tried to hurt the Palestinians so they ended up never going anywhere. Similarly, the Obama administration has made an effort to reach out to Israel and contribute to the Palestinian conflict. In January of 2009 Obama named George Mitchell special envoy for Middle East Peace. (Stevens 2010) At the same time, the Obama administration called on Israel to open the borders of the Gaza Strip. Appeal to Youth One of the major advantages Barack Obama gained during his campaign against John McCain was with youth voters. In addition to being physically younger, Obama was successful promoting a more hip and youthful image. Obama is often depicted playing basketball and projecting a concern with aspects of popular culture. Throughout the campaign and in these early years of his presidency, the Obama administration has been successful in revolutionarily incorporating modern technology into lobbying efforts. (Xenos 2010) His cooptation of the social networking platforms MySpace and Facebook greatly contributed the promotion of his image, and granted Obama direct access to the younger generation that would show up in record numbers to support his election and presidency. Since his election the Obama administration has continued its utilization of the internet, as the President’s twitter feed is second only to Lady Gaga in the number of followers. In addition to these technological elements, Obama’s message of change and hope continues to act as inspiration to younger generations that are more apt to buy into messages of progress and idealism. (Xenos 2010) In great regards the success of President Obama in appealing to youth culture is a reflection of the earlier success of the Clinton administration. Clinton was one of the first president’s to reach out to the youth population. He was an influential Character in the “Get Out And Vote “program. This influences youth to get involved in politics and try to change America into the country they want. The other character in this program was the MTV station which convinced Clinton into doing a question segment with youth for the station. The famous “boxers, briefs” question was asked, but the youth were able to see this president wanted to help them not just our parents. (Edwards 1998) Also he went on late night TV shows as a guest which no one had ever done. Shows like Arseneo Hall where he played his saxophone in front of millions. Indeed, Clinton, with elements such as this saxophone playing, as well as his success in appealing to the youth culture greatly contributed to his success in the early years of his presidency. (Klein 2003) 2012 Prospects When considering the chances of President Obama gaining reelection in the 2012 elections there are a number of factors, with the most central being without a doubt the progress of the economic recovery. In great part the Clinton administration benefitted from a robust economic surplus that was brought on by a number of diverse elements. While the economic surplus may have been a direct result of Clinton policy decisions, a number of individuals argue that he merely benefitted from surreptitious technological advances associated with the explosion of the internet and the Silicon Valley industries. While Obama succeeded in passing health care reform where Clinton failed, this ultimately may hurt his chances as it could potentially be coupled with growing nationwide discontent with perceived out-of-control spending policies that are contributing to the economic recession. It seems that ultimately the question of Obama’s reelection may not be one so much of Obama’s success, but one of the lack of direction of his opposition. While Clinton faced a strong Republican Congress, Obama has benefited from a Republican party without a clear cut leader or vision for the future. Conclusion As can be seen there are a number of elements in the first two years of the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama that are similar. Both presidents inherited a recession, were successful in appealing to large amount of the younger population, and both presidents set out to institute comprehensive health care reform. While Obama has succeeded in passing health care reform, many will argue that his first two years in office have not been as successful as those of Clinton. It seems that Obama has suffered from a series of challenges, including two wars and an economic recession that Clinton was never forced to confront. If anything, Clinton was lucky in that his presidency benefited from the explosion of the internet and Silicon Valley. Ultimately, it will only be in retrospect that the true efficacy of Obama’s time in office will be fully understood. References Calmes, Jackie. ‘In $3.8 Trillion Budget, Obama Pivots to Trim Future Deficits’ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/politics/02budget.html?scp=3&sq=obama%20 dget&st=cse July, 2010 Cronin, Thomas E. and Michael A. Genovese; "President Clinton Questions" Presidential Studies Quarterly Vol. 28, 1998 Davis; John. "The Evolution of American Grand Strategy and the War on Terrorism: Clinton and Bush Perspectives" White House Studies, Vol. 3, 2003 Edwards; George C. "Bill Clinton and His Governance" Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 28, 1998 Klein, Joe. (2003) The Natural. Broadway. Stevens, Peter. "Obama urges Israel to open Gaza borders" http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7cf745dc- e8ce-11dd- a4d0- 0000779fd2ac.html, retrieved July, 2010. Xenos,M. and W. Lance Bennett."The Disconnection in Online Politics: The Youth Political Sphere and US Election Sites, 2002-2004." Information, Communication, and Society 10 (2007): 443-64. Read More