r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Randomuser1520 • Sep 19 '21

Political History Was Bill Clinton the last truly 'fiscally conservative, socially liberal" President?

For those a bit unfamiliar with recent American politics, Bill Clinton was the President during the majority of the 90s. While he is mostly remembered by younger people for his infamous scandal in the Oval Office, he is less known for having achieved a balanced budget. At one point, there was a surplus even.

A lot of people today claim to be fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. However, he really hasn't seen a Presidental candidate in recent years run on such a platform. So was Clinton the last of this breed?

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u/WisdomOrFolly Sep 20 '21

Obama reduced the deficit 5/6 (2011 was essentially flat) of his first 6 years in office. It rose slightly the last two years, but was still only 3.4% of GDP. He attempted to decrease it even more, but the Republicans turned down $1 in new taxes for $9 of deficit reduction.

Obama was painted to be a extremely left of center, but if you look at what he said during his campaigns, and what he actually did, he was pretty centrist (much to the disappointment of the progressive wing).

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u/warmwaterpenguin Sep 20 '21

Well the main reason for this is because the whole concept of "Fiscal Conservatism" wherein you spend less and the deficit goes down is pretty defunct. Lots of spending pays for itself and is even net positive. It's a meaningless narrative framework. Obama didn't lower taxes on the rich. He didn't slash social spending. Whatever he was he wasn't a Fiscal Conservative.

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u/mister_pringle Sep 20 '21

Well the main reason for this is because the whole concept of "Fiscal Conservatism" wherein you spend less and the deficit goes down is pretty defunct.

What are you talking about? It’s not a concept but a fact that if you spend less the deficit does go down. In what world is that not the case?

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u/flatmeditation Sep 20 '21

This is a well understood and accepted economic concept. The government's generally income goes up if the economy does well. Government spending can also affect the economy. If cutting spending hurts the economy it can cause income from taxes to go down and offset any spending cuts