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John Hood February 15, 2006 RALEIGH What if Al Gore had won Florida in 2000, and thus defeated George W Bush for the presidency? In several respects, say some conservative and libertarians, America and the cause of smaller government would be better off today. Most obviously, a Democratic president and a Republican Congress would likely have passed more responsible federal budgets. Divided government, both at the federal and state levels, tends to result in fewer successful creations of new government programs. The legislative branch cant get its program past an executive veto. And the executive branch cant get its program seriously considered in the first place.
the difference in annual spending growth is fairly small, though real, when looking at the experience of legislatures and governors, the gap grows far wider with regard to the federal government.
Impostor: How George W Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, aptly used the recent example of the contrast between the Clinton years and the Bush years to reinforce this point. He observed that from 1993 to 2001, federal spending on defense, entitlements, and domestic discretionary programs all fell as a share of GDP. Bushs record on spending pales by comparison, even if you leave out direct responses to 9/11.
Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to the effect that Clinton had better economic policies than most American presidents, fiscal policy included. The statement may sound outlandish to some, but there is certainly a case to be made for it.
before, the Clinton presidency has gotten a bad rap on the Right for understandable but unfortunate reasons. A free-trade president who restrains spending and cuts capital-gains taxes simply cannot fairly be described the way some conservative critics choose to do. Yes, the Clintons health-care proposal of the early 1990s was seriously wrongheaded and would have been disastrous if implemented. President Bushs Medicare Part D proposal was also seriously wrongheaded and is proving to be disastrous on implementation, primarily for the long-term fiscal health of the Republic. Even if a President Gore had wanted to do precisely what Bush did on prescription drugs, he wouldnt have gotten it past a Republican Congress. The greatest black mark on Bushs domestic record thus far, in my book, is the fact that he has never vetoed a bill. It strains credulity to assert that not a single bill enacted by Congress since 2001 was deserving of opprobrium. Like Jimmy Carter before him, Bill Clinton has been a worse ex-president than president.
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