Clinton Rewriting History Again

While his lovely and gifted wife Hillary is over in Tokyo apologizing on behalf of The United States to the Muslim community ( I am quite puzzled why she would be apologizing to them for anything), former President Bill Clinton hit the dazed and confused staff over at CNN with some kind of revisionist history. In an interview with John Roberts and an appearance on The Larry King program, Clinton made commentary that must not go unchallenged.

You may think that few if anyone would be watching Larry King, and you are right. But, back in the early days of cable and late night radio, King was a force. Subsequently, many of our elder citizens still tune in, and these are the folks who may no longer has the intellectual knowledge of the political climate to question his erroneous comments. So, I will.

CLINTON ON OBAMA'S FIRST DAYS

When asked about Obama's performance in the early going, Clinton said Obama "was off to a good start". Oh my!

To begin with, Obama's cabinet selections have been saddled with tax issues (Geithner, Solis, Daschle), potentially criminal conflicts of interests (Richardson) and a much maligned Attorney General (Holder)who pardoned a tax evader on the FBI's most wanted list in Marc Rich at the end of Clinton's second term and today called most Americans "essentially cowards". He is still looking for a Commerce Secretary after his second choice, Judd Gregg (R:NH), withdrew after Obama, lacking the transparency he promised, stripped the Census Bureau from Commerce to The White House. Bush holdover Robert Gates is good to go.

Obama also promised on the campaign to allow five days for a Bill to be reviewed before he would sign it. Rut Row? The emergency spendulous bill, sent to lobbyists before congress, was voted on before the congress could even read it in it's entirety. Not good!

I will not even mention the DOW is down 2000 points since his election, but even the Kool-Aid drinkers have got to admit Obama's start has been shaky at best.

CLINTON ON THE ROOT OF THE HOUSING CRISIS



Famed economist Arthur Laffer was a two time supporter of President Clinton and a fan of his economic policies, and I think economically speaking, Clinton did a fair job, mostly following the policies of GB41. But, for him to dodge any responsibility for this housing crisis is mind boggling.

He did not do anything to curb the derivatives market, and neither did George W. Bush, although Bush asked Congress to investigate it and was shut down by Democratic opposition. Clinton did sponsor The Community Reinvestment Act, and without proper oversight and tainted with fraudulent organizations like ACORN, this program no doubt contributed heavily to the problem. And under Obama, not surprisingly, ACORN will be recipients of part of the stimulus package. Good Grief!

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IF CLINTON AND HIS TEAM WERE STILL IN CHARGE

From CNN: Asked his perspective on how the country fell into such economic hard times, Clinton responded in an NBC "Today" show interview by asking rhetorically: "Did any of them seriously believe that if I had been president and my economic team had been in place the last eight years, that this would be taking place." Take a listen:

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Yeah, I seriously believe it! Forgetting the economic cycles and bubbles bursting going back to the tulip scandal in Holland in the 1600's, Mr. Clinton is out of his mind. One of the major elements of the crisis is the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with Fannie Mae being led by former Clinton Budget Director Franklin Raines. I suspect this incompetent CEO, who walked out of Fannie with 90 million in compensation amidst accounting fraud at the company, would have been front and center in Clinton's team. Today, jail seems appropriate, but he is an advisor on the Obama team. Hope and Change! And then there is Robert Rubin, Clinton Treasury Secretary, who while calling the shots at Citigroup (C:NYSE) oversaw the subprime lending practices that have led Citi, and our capital markets, to life support.

Mr Clinton, although not his fault, left GW Bush with a recession caused by an exhausted business cycle, which you may know of as the dot.com boom. Mr. Bush was then blindsided, as we all were, by the terrorists attacks of 9-11. The attacks were a crippling blow to our economy, and through the FED's efforts of attempting to quickly lead the economy back from this period, monetary policy was loosened. This added fuel to the fire of the housing crisis, with homes and real estate being a welcomed tangible asset in an environment of future uncertainty.

Mistakes have been made, but it is sad to hear Mr. Clinton dodge any responsibility and like Obama, simply say it was because of the past eight years. Translation, it was the fault of Bush. Although no doubt hampering his presidential aspirations, I never heard Obama raise any commentary anywhere about the derivatives market, a potential housing bubble, the antics of book cooking by those running Fannie and Freddie, or anything for that matter during his responsibilities as a US Senator. Meanwhile, Bush does not dodge responsibility, again, employing the demeanor and class one should expect form a former Commander in Chief.