A Penchant for Taking Credit, Ignoring Facts, Muddles Political Reality

One of my favorite political cartoons from the 1996 election featured President Clinton gazing out the window while an aide commented, "That's a beautiful sunset, Mr. President."

Clinton's reply: "Thank you."

I was reminded of the president's penchant for taking credit for everything under the sun as I watched his address to the Democratic National Convention. What he and Al Gore didn't mention is that almost every one of their "accomplishments" was the result of legislation passed by the Republican Congress--and opposed by the Clinton-Gore administration at the time.

The real truth is that at best, the administration has been a not-so-innocent bystander as the Republican Congress went about the hard work of balancing the budget, stimulating the economy, stopping the Democrats' 30-year raid on the Social Security surplus, turning $3 trillion in projected deficits into $4 trillion in projected surpluses, reforming welfare and rebuilding the military.

Here's a point-by-point:

* Economy. There is no question but that the economy is in better shape in 2000 than it was in 1992. But then again, it didn't seriously start improving until 1995, the year the Republican Congress was sworn in.

In claiming credit for the balanced budget, the Clinton-Gore administration credits the $240-billion tax increase that the president forced through the Democrat-controlled Congress in 1993 over unanimous Republican opposition. But the administration's own 1995 budget projections belie this claim.

In 1995, the administration projected that we would add $300 billion to the federal deficit every year for the next decade, adding $3 trillion to the national debt. In other words, the administration basically acknowledged that its deficit-reduction solution had failed. In fact, all the 1993 tax hike did was slow the economic expansion that had begun in mid-1991 under President George Bush.

What really got the economy in gear was the budget-balancing efforts of the newly elected Republican Congress, including the 1995 Balanced Budget Act and appropriations bills that slowed spending growth. Clinton vetoed both, causing the partial government shutdown of 1995-'96.

Although the government shutdown hurt Republicans politically, it resulted in a freeze in government spending that year and convinced the financial markets that Congress was serious about balancing the budget. That prompted interest rates to drop 2% and set the stage for the economic expansion we enjoy today.