GOP Agenda Co-Opter Bill Clinton Hits Obama for Recognition of GOP Ideas
The Clinton campaign is really desperate to make hay of Obama’s comments in Reno the other day that the Republicans had established themselves as the “party of ideas” for the last 15 years or so.
Factually, I don’t know that it’s really a disputable comment. The Democrats, having controlled congress for roughly a generation, were coasting on the fumes of New Deal ideology. Then came Reagan and behind him Gingrich and — for better or worse — their ideas transformed America.
What’s really peculiar is that now Bill Clinton is going after Obama on this.
“So now it turns out you can choose between somebody who thinks our ideas or better or the Republicans had all the good ideas.”
First, Obama never said the GOP had better ideas, just more influential ones. Second of all, does everyone not remember that Bill Clinton’s legacy is built around co-opting ideas formerly central to the GOP — balanced budgets, welfare reform, free trade, tax cuts for the rich?
What a joke.