Bill Clinton, President Essay, Research Paper

A Victory For Clinton

Another four years, another new president? The election of 1996 for

president moves closer everyday as the republican Robert Dole, and the president

Bill Clinton fight it out. Far behind and by all means out of the race is Ross

Perot. The polls show Dole-Kemp behind Clinton-Gore, and the results will stay

this way for several key reasons. Clinton will serve another four years as

president since Americans know what to expect from him as president. On several

key issues, such as the budget, Dole has provided the voters with vague ideas on

how he will tackle his promises. As three key issues are examined we find Dole

to make claims that can easily be doubted. Clinton’s claims and views are

backed up with four years of experience. Clinton’s four years as president has

seen a stable economy, and he will try to keep this up for another four years.

The balancing of the budget proves to stand as one of the largest issues going

into the election.

Dole has talked about putting up 23% of federal spending up for cuts.

Dole has also said he will not touch the areas of social security, defense,

interest on the debt, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits, military pensions,

and the Energy Department research labs with cuts. This means under Dole we

would be likely to see cuts in national parks with the number of rangers, the

Border Patrol with fewer agents, the Bureau of Prisons with fewer prison spaces,

NASA with fewer space shuttle flights, the FBI with fewer agents, drug

interdiction with 2,960 fewer DEA agents, and education with fewer students in

Head Start. On the record Dole has suggested cuts in the Energy Department, and

the possibility of also eliminating the Commerce Department. These cuts alone

would not achieve the goal of eliminating the budget deficit by 2002 which shows

why Dole’s ideas are too vague. In the reality for a balanced budget

Transportation and the FBI could face cuts of up to 40%. Clinton, on the other

hand, focuses his cuts on other areas in order to meet the seven years standard

on balancing the budget. Clinton would plan to make the majority of his cuts on

Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare. Clinton has already started dipping into these

areas by passing the welfare reform act. The president’s ideas are more focused

on these specifics of balancing the budget which is why he will most likely be

re-elected. Another decisive area in the 1996 elections exists in the area of

taxes.

Taxes, always a big issue to voters, will be another key to winning the

1996 presidential election. Dole has said that he will focus his policies on a

platform of sweeping tax cuts. Dole talks of a 15% across the board tax rate

cut, and an end to the Internal Revenue Service as it is know today. Dole

claims that tax cuts are the key to faster growth. Dole also believes that he

can cut taxes significantly and still execute his balanced budget plan. Clinton

plan proves to be more acceptable. In the 1980’s tax cuts resulted in massive

deficits. The growth argument Dole makes would most likely be proven false as

the tax cuts in correspondence with the budget deal would just balloon the

deficit. A majority of Americans realize this from past experiences, and will

tend to lean toward the President whose focuses are more targeted. Clinton’s

plans call for a targeted capital gains tax cut for the middle-income families

who sell their homes, a $1,500 a year tuition tax credit for the first two years

of college, expanded tax free Individual Retirement Accounts, and a credit to

businesses that hire people off welfare. Voters will chose Clinton again for

his less drastic and more sensible tax cuts. Along with the budget and tax cuts

the issue of abortion completes the three most decisive factors in a win for

President Clinton.

Bill Clinton’s views on abortion were made clear when he vetoed a

measure to ban partial birth or late-term abortions. Clinton said he vetoed the

measure because it did not include exemptions for women who face serious health

consequences if they carried the fetus to term. Clinton made his claim that

this was a life saving measure for a small, but vulnerable group of women and

families in this country. While Clinton’s views are more for the women carrying

the baby themselves, Mr. Dole tends to belong more to the pro-life side. Dole’s

views are between the GOP’s opposing factions. He is not completely for the

rights of the unborn like Pat Buchanan, nor pro-choice like many other

Republicans. For this reason Dole is likely to lose a number of votes from the

female population. As Clinton made his views clear, he also supports government

aid for the less advantaged to help the women pay for this procedure. Once

again American’s will side with Bill Clinton because he has the experience, and

is focused in the issues.

Come next year Bill Clinton will serve another four years as president