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Bill Clinton
Thursday, 17 May 2007 - 1:27 AM SL Time |  | |
William Jefferson `Bill` Clinton, GCL (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. Before his presidency, Clinton served nearly twelve years as the 50th and 52nd Governor of Arkansas. He was the third-youngest person to serve as president, after Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, and is considered the first baby boomer president. Clinton is considered to have served during the American transition from the political order of the Cold War. Clinton was a New Democrat politician and was mainly responsible for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president.
Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a federal surplus.His first term saw the passage of economic legislation such as the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. In 1994, because of several perceived failures, including an unsuccessful attempt at health care reform, Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.Clinton`s second term was largely marked by impeachment proceedings. He was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and remained in office to complete his term. Other events of Clinton`s second term include the Kosovo War.
Clinton left office with polls revealing that many questioned his morals and ethics; however, he also retained a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-presidency rating among all the Presidents that came into office after World War II.[Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/ AIDS and global warming. In 2004, he released a personal autobiography, My Life. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is the Junior United States Senator from the state of New York, where they both currently reside.
PRESIDENCY
Clinton was inaugurated on January 20, 1993 as the 42nd President of the United States. In his inaugural address he declared that:
`Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.` [22]
Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which required large employers to allow their employees to take unpaid leave because of pregnancy or serious medical condition. While this action was popular, Clinton`s attempt to fulfill another campaign promise of allowing openly gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces was the subject of criticism.
Clinton promoted another controversial issue during this period regarding free trade. In 1993, Clinton supported the North American Free Trade Agreement for ratification by the U.S. Senate. Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases. He also expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, which benefited working class families with dependent children.
One of the most prominent items on Clinton`s legislative agenda was a health care reform plan, the result of a taskforce headed by Hillary Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage via a national healthcare plan.
SECOND TERM
In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton was re-elected, receiving 49.2% of the popular vote over Republican Bob Dole (40.7% of the popular vote) and Reform candidate Ross Perot (8.4% of the popular vote), becoming the first Democrat to win reelection to the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt. The Republicans lost a few seats in the House and gained a few in the Senate, but overall retained control of the Congress. Clinton received 379, or over 70% of the Electoral College votes, with Dole receiving 159 electoral votes.
On January 21, 1998, a controversy was raised by the media and prominent Republicans over Clinton`s relationship with a young White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, resulting in the Lewinsky scandal. In 1995, Monica Lewinsky, a graduate of Lewis & Clark College, was hired to work as an intern at the White House during Clinton`s first term. The two began a sexual relationship. On January 26, a visibly flustered President Clinton addressed the public in a White House press conference and issued a forceful denial:
``Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I`m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people``.
In a lame duck session after the 1998 elections, the Republican-controlled House voted to impeach Clinton for matters relating to the scandal. The Republican-controlled Senate then voted to acquit Clinton the following year, and he remained in office to complete his term.
In the closing year of his Administration, Clinton attempted to address the Arab-Israeli conflict. After initial successes such as the Oslo accords of the early-1990s, the situation had quietly deteriorated, breaking down completely with the start of the Second Intifada. Clinton brought Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat together at Camp David. However, Barak and Arafat could not find common ground, and the negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful.
Clinton remained popular with the public throughout his two terms as President, ending his presidential career with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-term approval rating of any President since Eisenhower. In addition to his political skills, Clinton also oversaw a boom of the US economy. Under Clinton, the United States had a projected federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.
HUMANITARIAN WORK
Clinton has also engaged in humanitarian work in cooperation with fellow former-President George H. W. Bush, specifically in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami disaster and Hurricane Katrina. They were later awarded on October 5, 2006, the 2006 Philadelphia Liberty Medal for their work on the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund. They also spoke together at the funeral of Boris Yeltsin.
On January 3, 2005, President George W. Bush named Clinton and George H. W. Bush to lead a nationwide campaign to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. On February 1, 2005, he was selected by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to head the United Nations earthquake and tsunami relief and reconstruction effort.
Five days later, Clinton appeared with Bush on the Super Bowl XXXIX pre-game show on Fox in support of their bipartisan effort to raise money for relief of the disaster through the USA Freedom Corps, an action which Bush described as `transcending politics`. Thirteen days later, they traveled to the affected areas to see the relief effort.
On August 31, 2005, following the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Clinton again teamed with George H. W. Bush to coordinate private relief donations, in a campaign similar to their earlier one in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami.
In April 2007 Clinton made his first visit to new United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. The 45-minute meeting, called at Clinton`s request, touched on a host of topics, including the continuing human tragedy in Africa, especially in the Darfur region.
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MarkLevinson
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16 May 2007 18:43:07 GMT Report for Abuse
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Clinton again teamed with George H. W. Bush to coordinate private relief donations
Wish our politicians act like that! |
pharoah
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16 May 2007 18:47:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Clinton has high ratings due to US enjoying an economic well being during hos tenure and he handled crisises well. has also taken part in many humanitarian causes. His scandals will always have a stain on his legacy |
pharoah
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16 May 2007 18:57:57 GMT Report for Abuse
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ML
Wish our politicians act like that!
one of the reasons Americans are successful is because they are co-operative. Another reason why Americans are successful is that the american dollar is the only currency in the world to say 'God bless their country (America)'
Clinton did a lot of work for Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami. |
JRJayawardena
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16 May 2007 19:01:06 GMT Report for Abuse
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I wonder what happened to Monica levinsky, poor old girl got it big those days.
JRJ |
Maitreya
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16 May 2007 19:15:28 GMT Report for Abuse
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JRJ,
I wonder what happened to Monica levinsky, poor old girl got it big those days.
i know she did a tell all book, should have made some money and
leading a happy quite life .
Edited By - Maitreya - 16 May 2007 19:15:46 GMT |
pharoah
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16 May 2007 19:27:59 GMT Report for Abuse
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JRJ / Maitreya
this is what Monica Lewinsky has been up to since the scandal
By her own account, Lewinsky survived the intense media attention by knitting; soon after the scandal she started a business selling her own brand of handbags online, but she closed it in 2004. In 2000 she appeared on The Tom Green Show in which the host took her to his parents' home in Canada in search of fabric for her new business. Lewinsky made a cameo appearance as herself in two sketches during the May 8, 1999 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, a program that had lampooned her relationship with Clinton vehemently over the prior 16 months. She was also the host of the short-lived reality television dating program called Mr. Personality in 2003.
After Clinton's autobiography My Life appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail:
'He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. (...) I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship (...) But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded.... I did though at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. (...) That's not how it was. This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.'
In December 2006, Lewinsky graduated with a master's degree in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics where she had been studying since September 2005. Her thesis was entitled ?In Search of the Impartial Juror: An exploration of the third person effect and pre-trial publicity.?
one of my friend also studied at LSE the same year Lewinsky was there!
Edited By - pharoah - 16 May 2007 19:29:15 GMT |
groovygirl
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16 May 2007 20:06:28 GMT Report for Abuse
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happened to Monica levinsky,
Monica moved to NY, and opened a line of handbags :)
She used to live in the same neighborhood
I like Bill Clinton, too bad they made big deal out of the whole thing, He was a great President. |
Robins
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16 May 2007 21:56:18 GMT Report for Abuse
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I like Bill Clinton
Lot of women fancied him!!!
He is a woma nicer!lolz |
pharoah
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16 May 2007 22:42:56 GMT Report for Abuse
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Why is Clinton so interested in the Middle East?
He thinks the Gaza Strip is a nightclub
Prosecutor: Was Monica Lying?
Clinton: No she was kneeling
Bill and Hilary Clinton were married for 40 years. When they first got married Bill said, 'I am putting a box under the bed. You must promise never to look in it.'
In all their 40 years of marriage Hilary never looked. However, on the afternoon of their 40th anniversary curiosity got the best of her and she lifted the lid and peeked inside. In the box were 3 empty beer cans and $1,874.25 in cash. She closed the box and put it back under the bed. Now that she knew what was in the box, she was really curious as to why.
That evening while they were out for a special dinner Hilary could no longer contain her curiosity and she confessed, saying 'I am so sorry. For all these years I kept my promise and never looked into the box under the bed. However today the temptation was too much and I gave in. But now I need to know why you keep the cans in the box?'
Bill thought for a while and said, 'I guess after all these years you deserve to know the truth.Whenever I was unfaithful to you I put an empty beer can in the box under the bed to remind myself not to do it again.'
Hilary was shocked, but said, 'I am very disappointed and saddened but I guess after all these years away from home on the road, temptation does happen and I guess that 3 times is not bad considering the years we've been together.'
A little while later Hilary asked Bill 'Why do you have all that money in the box?'
Bill answered, 'Whenever the box got full of cans, I cashed them in.' |
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