# How good a president was Bill Clinton? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 31, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049 "2022-03-31T15:35:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/41 "2022-04-05T14:01:08Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Turn it around the other way - if a woman was very attractive and had a relationship that was inappropriate, what would you think if someone said it was her fault because she was using her attractiveness skills? I don’t think Bill Clinton’s “attractiveness skills” are in question. But in the case of, say, Mary Kay LaTourneau, the teacher who got pregnant by her thirteen-year-old student, I would say, yeah, it’s inappropriate and it is her fault. Even her long marriage to the boy didn’t ameliorate the grossness. For god’s sake, Clinton had state troopers bringing in women and fending off Hillary. Yeah, it’s inappropriate. Kennedy was inappropriate. LBJ was inappropriate. It happens, and presidential legacies are tarnished, but not destroyed. Bill Clinton? Average president. Did okay. He’s still gross. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/42 "2022-04-05T15:05:06Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > In his _Playboy_ interview right after the election, Rush Limbaugh challenged the DNC to a one million-dollar wager that four years later, the deficit would be higher, the stock market lower, interest rates higher, and unemployment higher. All four indices were the opposite of Rush’s predictions. Did Limbaugh pay up? Probably not, as he was likely as not high on oxycontin at the time. He had Clinton to thank for his career, but did he even send a Christmas card? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/43 "2022-04-05T15:06:48Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Did Limbaugh pay up? Probably not, as he was likely as not high on oxycontin at the time. He had Clinton to thank for his career, but did he even send a Christmas card? No, Limbaugh lucked out when the DNC didn’t accept the bet. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/44 "2022-04-05T15:30:32Z")
Probably a good thing. If he paid up in cash, they’d have to spend a lot of time washing the bills in scalding hot alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/45 "2022-04-05T15:37:18Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I have a similar story. I’ve never been susceptible to charisma, and find most campaign speeches boring, even when I agree with the speaker. > > But I happened to see Clinton on a cold New Hampshire night for a town hall, and I was blown away - he had an almost supernatural ability to mesmerize a room. In the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, there are three different statistics which quantify a character’s mental characteristics: - Intelligence (knowledge, analytical skills) - Wisdom (common sense, discernment, insight) - Charisma (interpersonal skills, force of personality) Those abilities are traditionally rated on a scale from 3 to 18. I’ve long thought that Bill Clinton had a 17 Intelligence, a 4 Wisdom, and an 18 Charisma. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/46 "2022-04-05T18:16:42Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve long thought that Bill Clinton had a 17 Intelligence, a 4 Wisdom, and an 18 Charisma. That sounds about right! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/47 "2022-04-05T18:28:16Z")
Arguably George HW Bush fits that category- he did a surprising number of good things(Americans with Disabilities Act, Clean Air Act amendments, cleared the path for German reunification, reduced troop levels in Europe, and in the “cutting into his own success” category, ended up raising taxes and reducing the budget deficit , paving the way for the economic boom of the 90s by putting the government on firmer fiscal ground. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049/48 "2022-04-07T00:29:01Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Arguably George HW Bush fits that category- he did a surprising number of good things That was his downfall. Republicans really didn’t like it, so he lost a lot of support from the Right, especially with Perot offering himself as a fiscally conservative alternative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-a-president-was-bill-clinton/962049.md?page=2)