Transcript Clinton - people.vcu.edu

The Democratic Party Story
The Battle for Party Philosophy
1980s/1990s
Context
• Reagan Realignment
• Reagan Success
• Democratic defeat 1984: 525-13 EV
• Change in belief:
– Government is the problem
Democrats Hit Bottom
Democratic Party Changes
1960s-1980s
1. Loss of South
2. Reagan shifts the electorate to right
3. Crushing loss in 1984
4. Deficit
5. Tax Revolts
6. Perceived failure of Great Society
7. Rejection of Reaganomics
Democratic Debate
Traditional Liberals
• New Deal/Great Society
• pro-labor
• maybe protectionist
• socially liberal
• activist government
Centrist “New Democrats”
• Democratic Leadership
Council
• pro-business
• free trade
• socially liberal
• limited, but important,
government role
Bill Clinton
1992
• Clinton 43%
• Bush 37%
• Perot 19%
• The electoral map 1992
Was Clinton a New Democrat?
The Argument
Republican view
• Old Democrat
• Paleoliberal
Democrat view
• New Democrat
Was Clinton a New Democrat?
•
•
•
•
Gays in the military
Health Care
Budget
“Triangulation” and Welfare Reform
– 1996 SOTU: “The era of big government is
over”
• Trade
Clinton’s Legacy?
1. Economic World Order Building
•
•
•
•
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
FTAA: Free Trade Area of the Americas
APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
WTO: World Trade Organization
2. Pro-Business Democrat
The Trust Issue
The 1992 Campaign
• The Draft
• Drug Use
• Affairs: Gennifer Flowers
Clinton Haters
• American Spectator
• Regnery Publications
Whitewater-Lewinsky Chronology I
Whitewater
Estates story
(NY Times)
Vince Foster
suicide
(July 93)
investigation;
files disappear
American Spectator
“Arkansas project”
Clinton Arkansas Rivals
Atty Gen
Reno
appoints
Independent
Counsel
David Brock
Story about
“Paula”
Robert Fiske (1994)
mid-1994 Kenneth Starr
Strategy: find
anyone who Clinton
told about finances
Paula goes public;
sues President
Paula’s lawyers
Clinton enemies
Whitewater-Lewinsky Chronology II
Nov. 1995
Clinton begins
Affair with
Lewinsky
Affair ends
1997
Jan 1998
Jones’ lawyers
get a tip;
ask about Lewinsky
Jan 1997
USSC rules;
Legal to sue a
President
Reno gives Starr
approval to
investigate
Clinton-Lewinsky
Jan 1998
Clinton and Lewinsky
deposed in civil trial;
deny affair
August 1998
Clinton testifies
Starr’s Grand Jury;
denies affair
Starr gets tapes
of Lewinsky-Tripp
conversations
Starr report
Sept 1998
Impeachment
proceedings
begin
Dec. 1998
Senate
acquits
1/99
Lewinsky Gate
• Comparison to other scandals
• Whitewater Estates
• Vince Foster
David Brock
Paula Jones
The Evidence and the Prosecution
Monica Lewinsky
Ken Starr
Articles of Impeachment
• Article One: Perjury before Grand Jury
– Passed House; rejected by Senate
• Article Two: Perjury in Civil Suit
– Rejected by House
• Article Three: Obstruction of Justice
– Passed House; rejected by Senate
• Article Four: Perjury in Questions to
Judiciary Committee
– Rejected by House