This week, the presidential campaign has been dominated by debate over the welfare law from the 1990s. It’s just the latest example of how both sides are trying to use the Clinton years to their advantage — portraying them as a halcyon golden age.
As long as Bill Clinton has been on the public stage, there have been people of both parties willing to say negative things about him. But this year, even high-profile Republicans are waxing nostalgic about Clinton’s administration.
“President Clinton got four consecutive balanced budgets,” Newt Gingrich told CNN last week after Democrats announced that the former president will have a prime speaking spot at their national convention. “President Obama’s had huge deficits. So I think having Bill Clinton there is going to remind people of the Democrat they used to like, and may in fact shrink Obama by comparison.”
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