Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, spoke with TIME’s Rick Stengel about his new book, Back to Work, and how to fix the economy. Excerpts from that conversation follow.
Congress
Jack Abramoff: Still Detestable
At the height of the Tom DeLay-era, Jack Abramoff was probably Washington’s most influential and lucratively paid lobbyist. He was brash and brazen, displaying a Hollywood swagger long before they made a movie about him. Then Abramoff was exposed as a fraud, a liar and a creep of the first order–someone who effectively stole millions of …
In Thursday Press Conference, Professor Obama Demands Answers
“Why?” Barack Obama asked Republicans about their opposition to his job creation bill. Then he asked it again. And again. By the time he was done, the President had repeated the question, in different ways, some 15 …
The Next Twist in the Solyndra Scandal
More Solyndra emails from the White House are coming. Just how many is unclear, as is whether or not they will contain any news. The last batch–hundreds of pages of correspondence between low-level Solyndra executives and President Obama’s advance team–revealed little, beyond one aide’s view that the manufacturing robots at Solyndra’s …
Why Congress’s Next Budget Battle Will Be Bigger
The Senate’s deal to sidestep a government shutdown is a respite from, not a resolution to, the Congressional fiscal mire. It didn’t solve the substantive disagreements between the two parties about entitlements or taxes or the economic policies that foster job creation or even why the debt problem driving the budget brinkmanship exists. …
Don’t Be Fooled By the Solyndra Bankruptcy Circus — Solar Is Booming
I doubt the facts are going to matter much now that Republicans have latched onto the Solyndra solar “scandal,” and even if they did matter, I’d be the wrong guy to defend the Obama administration (and some of the world’s top venture capitalists) for making the same honest mistake I made. After a few dozen Solyndra hearings like …
New York’s Special Election: Looming Upset Would Be a Rebuke to Obama
Back in May, Democrats pulled off an upset in a special election in Western New York, snatching a House seat in a Republican stronghold. On Tuesday the GOP appears ready to exact its revenge.
Republican Bob Turner, a retired television executive, holds an edge over Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin in the special election to replace …
In Jobs Push, Obama Pulls Out the Political Props
President Obama reached into the old prop bag Monday, waving around a printed copy of his American Jobs Act fastened together with a fat black binder clip. “This is the bill that Congress needs to pass,” he said, holding the …
The Sisyphean Stimulus Sell: Why Obama’s Big Job Speech Will Likely Prove Unpersuasive
Governor Rick “Galileo” Perry declared at the Reagan Library last night that President Obama and his 2009 stimulus have “proven once and for all that government spending will not create one job.” Actually, in the last …
Bishops to Supercommittee: Don’t Think About Touching Programs for the Poor
Oh, those religious people–always droning on and on about the poor. It’s like they have nothing else to do. (Other than getting arrested by the hundreds at the White House for protesting a proposed Canadian oil pipeline.) And it’s like the Bible told them to or something. If they love the poor so much, why don’t they marry …
Even as He Prepares for Fall Offensive, Obama Retreats on Jobs Speech
Barack Obama had three weeks to plan his first move of the fall political season. When he announced it, that move appeared to be an aggressive one. And then it blew up in his face.
Midday on Wednesday, his aides announced that …
What Washington Can — and Won’t — Do About Market Fears
The 6% stock-market sell-off on Monday elicited hopes from Wall Street that Washington would do something to reassure the world that it is serious about its mounting debt and determined to reinvigorate the stalled recovery. …
Facing Economic Headwinds, Obama Struggles Again to Find an August Storyline
August is always Barack Obama’s darkest month. Whether it’s a faltering campaign (2007), Paris Hilton comparisons (2008), town hall rebellions (2009), or an inability to stay on message just weeks before a midterm wipeout …
