Word: clintone
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...area of concern that could affect the ultimate success of his presidency. It is his tendency to overlearn the lessons of past presidencies, especially when those lessons enable him to avoid taking responsibility for tough decisions. It has been widely observed that Obama overlearned the lesson of the Clinton health-care effort by deferring to Congress to write the legislation. It has been less widely observed that the President overlearned the lesson of Bush's hyperpoliticized Justice Department by leaving to Attorney General Eric Holder the decision about whether to investigate the CIA for torture abuses...
What should the President have done? Well, there's a path between the 1,300-page Clinton health-care plan and the 1,000-page Henry Waxman plan that will be voted on in the House. The President could have laid out a set of principles and said, "I will veto any bill that doesn't contain the following ..." (Indeed, he still could do so.) They should be clear, simple, popular and achievable. My list would include insurance reform, health-care exchanges, near universal coverage and tort reform. (Obama's position on tort reform is another abdication of responsibility...
...Inauguration, things got worse. Officials in the new Administration made no secret of their contempt for Karzai, whom they viewed as spineless and inefficient, too tolerant of drug smugglers. Allegations that some members of his family were in the drug trade didn't help. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described Karzai's administration as a "narco-state." And last week, another meeting with a visiting American - special envoy Richard Holbrooke - descended into angry words...
...Martino seemed to take special pleasure in castigating institutions and individuals that he felt were failing to properly represent Catholic values. He could be abrasive, blasting Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., for inviting an openly gay writer and former Clinton Administration aide to speak. The university, declared Martino, was "seriously failing in maintaining its Catholic identity." Earlier this year, Martino threatened to shutter Scranton's cathedral on St. Patrick's Day if any local Irish-American organizations included pro-choice politicians in their celebrations...
...Left Behind” school legislation, a copy of which hung on the wall of his office along with the pen that Bush used to sign the document. According to Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood ’75, who worked with Kennedy on welfare reform during the Clinton administration, although Kennedy entered office as part of a political dynasty, his ultimate reputation as an effective, revered legislator came from his passion for the issues he supported and his willingness to work with people on either side of the aisle to transform his ideas into legislation...