The Differences of Bush and Clinton as Presidents

â€Å"As a traditional upper-class Republican conservative, Bush was a cheerleader for American consumer capitalism and promoted globalization of American-produced products in a â€Å"New World Order† safeguarded by the Reagan Doctrine and arms sales to client countries. However, neither Bush nor Secretary of State Baker had â€Å"the vision thing† and instead remained pragmatic caretakers of the Reagan Revolution. The economic recession 1990-92, white collar downsizing, the loss of 2 million jobs, the need to raise taxes to pay for the Reagan deficit, and a hostile Congress controlled by the Democratic Party prevented the realization of the new order.† In 1989, Bush stopped the sales of weapons to the Republic of China because a revolt was triggering between the government of China and its people that there was a lot killed in Tiananmen Square. In 1990, the President was in favor of increasing the taxes paid by the employees so that they can cope up with the increasing debts of U.S. but with this, his popularity started to sink because people knew that he was against it. Several other factors were key in his defeat, including siding with Congressional Democrats in 1990 to raise taxes despite his famous â€Å"Read my lips: No new taxes† pledge not to institute any new taxes (Wikipedia, 2005). That was one of the reasons why he was not re-elected as president. William Jefferson Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States since 1993 until 2001. He was elected as the president twice but on his second term he was for impeachment. According to Wikipedia 2005: â€Å"During his tenure as president, his domestic priorities included efforts to create a universal healthcare system, upgrade education, to restrict handgun sales, to strengthen environmental regulations, to improve race relations, and to protect the jobs of workers during pregnancy or medical emergency. His domestic agenda also included more conservative themes such as reforming welfare programs, expanding the â€Å"War on Drugs†, and increasing law enforcement funding. Internationally, his priorities included reducing trade barriers, preventing nuclear proliferation, and mediating the Northern Ireland peace process and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.† What is fact and what is a bias opinion as it relates to the two administrations? There was a statistics made by Ackman (2004) on the relation of the president's performance during their term. As summarized, Bush was ranked the least because of his poor performance. And Clinton was ranked higher that Bush because he performed well during his term especially his first term. According to Ackman (2004): â€Å"Clinton's two terms in office (1993-2001) were marked by strong numbers for gross domestic product (GDP) and employment growth and especially for deficit reduction.† â€Å"The key to Clinton's success, says Alice Rivlin, a Brookings Institution scholar who served as his director of management and budget, was adhering to the â€Å"pay/go† agreement first forged by President George H. W. Bush and a Democratic Congress, whereby tax cuts or entitlement increases had to be funded on a current basis. She says Clinton raised taxes at just the right time–when incomes were starting to rise after years of stagnation–leading to a surge of receipts. The result was the smallest government in terms of its percentage of GDP since Johnson, and the first substantial budget surpluses since Harry S. Truman. † How the public viewed Clinton and Bush both pro and con? During the term of Bush, people hoped for security and prosperity and he was able to attain the security but a slight below of the progress maybe because of his concentration on the foreign policy. As according to the online source, http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/timeline/pres_era/3_701.html: â€Å"Bush proved most sure-footed in foreign policy, where, according to one observer, he proved a master of both â€Å"timing and substance.† More widely traveled than any other President, he managed the policy transitions prompted by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Perhaps his greatest success was the alliance he crafted to thwart Iraq's forceful takeover of Kuwait in 1990.† During the first term of Clinton, he won the masses because he worked hard and implemented some of his platforms but then there were some objections on his other decisions. Such examples are, based on Wikipedia (2005): â€Å"Shortly after taking office, Clinton fulfilled a campaign promise by signing 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 initial reluctance to fulfill another campaign promise relating to the acceptance of openly homosexual members of the military garnered criticism from both the left (for being too tentative in promoting gay rights) and the right (for being too insensitive to military life). After much debate, Clinton implemented the â€Å"Don't ask, don't tell† policy, which remains official military policy.† Did the media treat them each fairly and without bias? With President George H. W. Bush, the media treated him fairly during his administration. Regarding the taxes he imposed, the public did not clearly understand the reason for increasing and adding the tax that was one of the concerns of the people, they relied on the media's information but not directly to the authorized personnel. With President Bill Clinton, the media did treat him fairly during his administration and how he handle his office but then when news about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, he was not treated fairly, they judged them on what they think is due to him without due process that was one of the reason why his popularity had dropped. But even if he was under hot situation he did not leave his office, he continued to work and he proved that his personal life will not affect his service to the people. What legacy did and will they each leave? During the term of Bush, major event has happened with the help of the United States such as the Tiananmen Square where he stopped the sales of weapons because of the civil war. The fall of Berlin Wall, this was participated by different countries including the U.S. And most especially the Gulf War where in they initiated the attacked of American to Iraq for trying to invade Kuwait. The last legacy during his term that he left was he organized the â€Å"North American Free Trade Agreement† but it was Clinton, during his term that it was signed. The most important item on Clinton's legislative agenda, however, was a complex health care reform plan, the result of a task force headed by Hillary Clinton, aimed at achieving universal coverage (Wikipedia, 2005). The health care program will benefit most of the Americans but insurances and some traditionalists do not like the idea of this reform plan. The economy improved because unemployment were reduced, the stock market raised and the employees income were raised. But then, it will also be noted that Clinton was the 2nd President who went through impeachment because of what happened between him and one of his staff â€Å"Monica Lewinsky†. At first he denied it but soon he accepted it and asked for the people's mercy.