The five most significant political events in your lifetime.

1. The end of WWII on VJ day
2. The stalemate end of the Korean War
3. Assassination of Kennedy
4. Civil Rights Act of 1964
5. Voting Rights Act of 1965

I could add similar stuff leading up to the 21st Century, but these five events eclipse most everything else since then.

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The Election of Barack Obama - The historic, cultural, and global sociopolitical implications of which cannot be fully explained or comprehended.

The Assassinations - of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. King, events which changed America's destiny in ways we cannot know.

The Civil Rights/Voting Rights Acts - which finally empowered those traditionally excluded from the political process to be a part of it, to effect change in our destinies.

Watergate - Opened our eyes with regard to the forces at work within our nation and the lengths to which they were willing to go in order to have their way.

Supreme Court Decision/Election of George Bush - Showed me (personally) that even in a democracy, the will of the people can be undermined and subverted. "A coup by any other name..."

The Clinton Presidency - In spite of the much overblown scandal and the failed impeachment attempt, even his critics have to give Clinton (and his presidency) its due. Surely one of the greatest presidents of our era.

"What are you doing?"
"Screwing the earth."

agree Drifter so pinched for ease of passage

1)The growth of China, India, Russia, Brasil etc. This is changing the global picture and will, as far as I can see, continue.

2) The British having to exit with the Expiry of the 99 year lease of Hong Kong
MAYbe the beginning of Chinas Rise & Britains demise?

3) The Partial Peace in Ireland

4) The end of the Viet Nam War

5) The Death of Stalin/Amin ( i hope he is Dead) & all other Despots

cant think of anything overly memorable as far as Au / NZ is concerned hha

Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

"ave atque vale"
(hail&farewell)

Oh, please. His signing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is sufficient to justify trashing the guy. Not to mention NAFTA.

And the bonehead lost both houses of Congress in 1994.

Liberal, my ass.

So are we reduced to pigeonholing a president's legacy to a few isolated incidents and escalate them to heights that overshadow his entire stint in office in order to prove whether or not Clinton was liberal or at least as "liberal" as you wanted him to be? As if your benchmarks for what qualifies as true liberalism is what we should be going by? Or are you just trying to downplay or discredit political events that mean something to certain individuals for some other form of cheap, irrelevant forum credibility? Please... let's not go there. This is not an argument you'd be able to sustain around here.

I've yet to post my five because there's so much to think about. But Clinton's presidency does stand out as one of them. He wasn't the perfect president by any means, however, his road to winning the election is as symbolic as Obama's (beyond the obvious). Both Clinton & Obama were able to energize and stimulate the youth vote and engage with the citizens of the nation by utilizing what was at that time the sources they connected with the most. In 2008, it was the internet. During Clinton's run, it was things such as MTV (who proved for the first time in the network's existence that they could provide a voice that mattered in political matters). Both aspects bring some level of humility to the messages they were trying to spread. Before presidents like these people, everyone else tried to go through the usual routes to obtain their votes. Clinton & Obama changed the game and opened up new ways for politicians to effectively spread their message. That needs to be recognized REGARDLESS of whether or not someone doesn't live up to your "liberal" or "conservative" scorecards. Then there's the obvious stuff in regards to the economy and civil rights, but I don't want to bore anyone who is in the mood to rip someone's character apart with historical facts.

Damn... just what do I want to list as significant political events? So many that I would mention either happened before I was born, or during a time when I was too young to be socially aware to their full impact. One thing is for certain, Clinton does place in more ways than one. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and NAFTA does nothing to change that.

Seriously... fuck it all.

You might consider the impact of those "isolated incidents". Great he was not.

I have... and nothing has changed.
Let's start with one example. NAFTA. Instead of trying to tell me to consider the impact and play a guessing game as to what you found to be a problem with it, why don't you tell us why you have a problem with its passing and how Clinton is responsible for any individual for abusing the system and exploiting whatever loophole this legislation left open? On top of that, tie all of that together and explain how anyone else is supposed to use any (or all) of this to discredit his presidency or perceived "liberalism"?

I may be able to research and come up with a worthy counterargument, but one thing I don't bring to a debate is a crystal ball. Provide specifics.

Seriously... fuck it all.

Crystal balls are for looking into the future, not the past.

Anyway, this really isn't a thread about the merits or lack thereof of Clinton's presidency.

Civil rights? You mean like signing the Defense of Marriage Act and going along with DADT?

The economy? Clinton was very lucky to be president during a tech explosion.

The significant thing about Clinton was that he was third in a line of four Republican presidents, not to mention that if it weren't for his shenanigans the 2000 election might not have been so close and the final outcome might have been different. And we all know what a difference that would have made.

I shall close here. I just could not resist responding to a post referring to Bill Clinton as a "great" president.

A crystal ball is believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance. The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses. There is no mention or precise specification made that suggests that a crystal ball is used just for "looking into the future" if we utilize the actual definitions of such terms. That means it can be used to research the past if need to. Alas, I can understand how people will perceive the term as only being predictors of the future as given by our current societal projections of what a crystal ball is supposed to represent.

We know you couldn't resist, but he was great in more ways than one to many people including myself. I don't expect "great presidents" to be perfect. They're all gonna fuck up somewhere (hello, Monica!!). But considering a term of Bush II, or the prospect of a Bob Dole or Dan Quayle presidency that could have been in place anywhere from 1992-2001 if Clinton wasn't elected (going solely on the ideologies and/or voting records of each substitute) I think NAFTA or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is the least of our worries.

Seriously... fuck it all.

Before DADT, there was a complete ban. It didn't matter if you didn't mention you were gay. If someone suspected that you were, you could be eliminated. Period. Clinton tried to do a complete 180 on the ban of gays in the military, and anyone with a political conscious knew that this wasn't going to happen. DADT was a compromise for his actions, and it is constantly downplayed by hyper-liberals who think that their presidents have to be as extreme as right-winged ones in order to get anything done. However, if you put all the pieces of history together, without Clinton putting a necessary dent in the armor Obama wouldn't have been able to push for a full repeal and get it done.

Recognize the steps necessary to get to where we are now. They all have relevance, despite if we like every action or not.

Not necessarily. As someone who benefitted from that tech explosion in many ways, I can tell you that many of his actions to balance the budget had nothing to do with the explosion of the internet. That's just an easy symbol to use (in conjunction with one's preconceived ideologies) to write off all of the actions of a president.

Let's just say this. We're LUCKY that the internet has blown up the way that it has, and it wasn't till the last few years of Clinton's presidency that the internet truly blew up. That and additional technological advances that had nothing to do with Clinton to ensure that the web would be a viable, societal and business tool.

No revision-level preaching here, please? Not a single Republican would consider Clinton to be a "republican" or "conservative" president, especially with the current climate of politics in our country. Also, Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. president since World War II. If we can blame anything on Gore for his inability to win the presidency on 2000 (beyond the obvious) is the fact that he didn't embrace more of Clinton's ideologies or tried so desperately to distance himself from him upon request by the very opposition that wanted him to lose.

Seriously... fuck it all.

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[QUOTE=rbkwp;3419716]2) The British having to exit with the Expiry of the 99 year lease of Hong Kong
MAYbe the beginning of Chinas Rise & Britains demise?

[QUOTE]

I would see WW1 as the beginning of a decline in global status for the UK (demise a bit strong) and a certain little tree planted by Deng as the beginning of China's rise. HK, well, that has been some icing on the cake for China. Next stop Taiwan

As my Grandfather used to say, "If you are going to have a woman, why not have a beautiful one who wants to fuck you."

allowing myself a 6th because i surely can & its not illegal ha
Of importance to me
Brain Lapse omitted it obviously.

6) the END of Apatheid, and Mandelas Freedom
(with the White South African leader of the time, equally to Thank for his bold moves)
Some SA persons may see it as otherwise, but NZ did support this actively.

Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

"ave atque vale"
(hail&farewell)

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VBoy, there are always those for whom a president, though left leaning, isn't "liberal" enough to suit them. They're entitled to their opinion. I think they fail to grasp the political realities of the world in which we live.

I also think the greatness of a person can be measured in the way he or she successfully bridges the gap between either extremes and still achieve much of what he/she sets out to accomplish.

Polls and statistical facts support my assertion that Clinton was among our greatest presidents, post WWII especially, and many (from both sides of the political spectrum) hold him in high regard, in spite of opinions to the contrary expressed herein.

"What are you doing?"
"Screwing the earth."

Please prove how the mighty Reagan and Bush defeated communism.