Was Bill Clinton A Success Or Failure

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Bill Clinton’s presidency differed significantly from the 41 presidents that preceded him. When Clinton was first inaugurated into office on January 20, 1993, he hit a rough patch. These setbacks, such as failures in healthcare, were primarily caused by the Republican Congress that attempted to break his presidency. However, this early start isn’t what separates his presidency from most, as many presidents have similarly started off rough. Rather, it is the fact that Clinton never had complete relief from these setbacks. After years of battling Congress, he soon encountered more trouble with the law and Attorney Starr. While Clinton may have had some aspects of success from economic prosperity to securing a high approval rating, his many failures …show more content…

Clinton ignored these cries, and only came to help following the violence and with the assistance of other officers such as Jimmy Carter. While the American people did not want too much foreign interference, many people did not appreciate the lack of help Clinton was promoting. While these were the largest failures of his foreign policies, Clinton also had several more that slowly tore apart during his presidency. This included making compromises with North Korea over their nuclear weapons and giving China a better status than most Americans believed they deserved. With the several foreign successes of preceding presidents such as George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, Clinton’s policies looked far from splendid. There is a fair argument that many Americans believe, being that Clinton’s presidency was more righteous than not. They saw Clinton as an entertaining, influential president and human being, and they also saw structural stability when it came to the economy during his presidency. This can all be taken as a fact, as he and his presidency did fall under many of these …show more content…

Specifically, it wasn’t until the unveiling of Clinton’s assault on Paula Jones and affair with Monika Lewinsky where everything came together. With all of this information unfolding, Starr recognized a pattern and was able to use it all to promote the idea that Clinton was abusing his power. All of this became even more obvious, when Clinton lied under oath and tinkered around with important evidence. All of this was then sent to court, where Clinton was charged with impeachment over counts of perjury and obstructing justice. While this was all playing out for the Republican Congress, they ended up failing to gain enough votes, and thus, Clinton was impeached but was not forcefully removed from office. Although he remained as president and continued to have a high approval rating by the American people, his numerous scandals and later, impeachment, gave him a bad reputation. To this day, he is only one of three presidents to ever be impeached. While he still may have had the people’s vote, his abusive power and illegal activity didn’t serve him well as president of the United

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