Was Bill Clinton worried about gas prices?


Not everyone agrees with Louis Freeh's reasoning
I haven't talked about the Louis Freeh book yet, I think it is unethical to criticize your former boss to drive book sales. Especially when as FBI Director, Mr. Freeh could have talked to at least 40 members of Congress and gotten public hearings when there was still time to do something about it.

But Dick Morris has an interesting take in the New York Post.

Because his 1993 deficit-reduction package (sounds quaint now, doesn't it?) had raised the gas tax a nickel, Clinton was worried that he'd get blamed for any price spike. A nominal increase in car-licensing fees had cost him the Arkansas governorship in 1980, and the lesson he drew — don't mess with people's cars — resonated deeply in his political worldview.

Originally, Clinton had resisted raising gas prices and tried instead to pass Al Gore's well-nigh-incomprehensible plan to tax energy based on its BTU output. But nobody understood the tax and Congress, reverting to the tried and true, raised gas taxes instead. Ever since, Clinton had watched gas prices intently. "If gas goes down or stays the same, I'll be OK," he told me. "But if it goes up, I'm cooked."

And in the spring of 1996, as the summer driving season approached, gas prices were spiking. Republicans, eager to tie the prices to the Clinton tax hike, introduced legislation to repeal the nickel increase and forced Clinton to defend it even as prices rose.

According to Mr. Morris, gas prices were the reason that Mr. Clinton did not insist that the Saudis allow a full FBI investigation. I think he is right. During Mr. Clinton's Presidential term, I learned some of what he had done in Arkansas from relatives and friends. I can't prove any of it of course, but Mr. Morris explanation seems to fit Mr. Clinton's character better .

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - October 18, 2005 at 06:17 PM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved