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William J. Clinton

William J. Clinton Biography

42nd U.S. President

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“One of the real dilemmas we have in our country and around the world is that what works in politics is organization and conflict. That is, drawing the sharp distinctions. But in real life, what works is networks and cooperation. And we need victories in real life, so we've got to get back to networks and cooperation, not just conflict. But politics has always been about conflict, and in the coverage of politics, information dissemination tends to be organized around conflict as well.”

WorldNeedsWellsRealCountryInformationVictoryConflictOrganizationDrawingReal LifeOur CountryAround The WorldOrganizedDistinctionGet BackCooperationDilemmaCoverageDissemination
Author:William J. Clinton
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“The good news is you can get a lot of information off the Internet for free and in a hurry. But I think the breaking up of the media, which is otherwise kind of healthy, has contributed to less actual reporting and a louder, more contentious, more divisive public discourse, highlighting conflict, sometimes falsely.”

ThinkingKindSometimesMediaInformationInternetHealthyConflictNewsDiscourseGood NewsPublic DiscourseContentiousHighlighting
Author:William J. Clinton
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“I liked working with Republicans. We had five pretty good years after we had that bad year in '95 that culminated in two government shutdowns. But then they really decided that they liked being in the majority for the first time in forty years, and they wanted to get some things done, and I agreed, to get things I wanted. It was all perfectly transparent. Everybody knew what they wanted and what I wanted.”

YearsFirstsTwoDoneGovernmentWantedFiveRepublicanFirst TimeDecidedMajorityFortyTransparentThings DoneGood YearsGovernment ShutdownBad Years
Author:William J. Clinton
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“This is one way that wealthy Americans could really contribute. They could put hundreds of millions of dollars into the infrastructure bank, be a good investment for them, for their children, for their grandchildren, and they would directly contribute to revitalizing a big sector of middle-class wages in America and making our country more productive, so that we could create more opportunity. But I think that we could get a lot of grassroots support from, like, local chambers of commerce and other things if they understood exactly how this infrastructure bank would work.”

IfsThinkingWayChildrenCountryBigsAmericaOpportunityClassMillionsSupportMiddleUnderstoodDollarsInvestmentLocalsOur CountryOne WayProductiveMiddle ClassWealthyCommerceWagesGrandchildrenInfrastructureChamberGrassrootsChamber Of Commerce
Author:William J. Clinton
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“I've been talking about income inequality in America for twenty years, and when I was president, people didn't pay much attention to it, probably because wages were going up. But I don't think I've given a single solitary speech since I left office that I hadn't talked about it. It's a problem around the world and within the United States. So these people have put that on the agenda.”

PeopleThinkingWorldYearsStatesProblemAmericaLeftGivenPresidentUnitedPayAttentionTalkingUnited StatesSpeechOfficeTwentiesIncomeInequalityAround The WorldAgendasSolitaryWagesIncome Inequality
Author:William J. Clinton
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“If you wanted to create jobs in a way that has minimal effect on the deficit but has government action, the two best things you could do are the infrastructure bank and a simple SBA-like loan guarantee for all building retrofits, where the contractor or the energy-service company guarantees the savings. So that allows the bank to loan money to let a school or a college or a hospital or a museum or a commercial building unencumbered by debt to loan it on terms that are longer, so you can pay it back only from your utility savings. You could create a million jobs doing that.”

IfsWayTwoGovernmentActionWantedSchoolJobsEnergyTermSimplePayCompanyMillionsEffectsBuildingCollegeDebtSavingBest ThingsGuaranteesHospitalsMuseumsInfrastructureDeficitLoanUtilitySavingsContractor
Author:William J. Clinton
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“I believe we can do much more to adapt to the structural changes in the global economy, get high-end manufacturing back here, set up clusters of economic activity where you have, among other things, continuous retraining of people well into their middle years so they never become irrelevant to the current job market.”

PeopleYearsBelieveWellsEndsJobsI BelieveCan DoEconomyEconomicMiddleActivityCurrentsIrrelevantManufacturingGlobal EconomyGetting HighClusters
Author:William J. Clinton
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“I learned a lot from the stories my uncle, aunts, and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can't be judged only by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgements make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best, and sometimes only response to pain.”

PeopleLifeSometimesMomentsStoriesPainLife IsPerfectWorstLaughterResponseJudgementJudgedHarshUnclesGrandparentAuntHypocriteShowing UpHanging On
Author:William J. Clinton
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“Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower, on slave ships, whether they came to Ellis Island or LAX in Los Angeles, whether they came yesterday or walked this land a thousand years ago our great challenge for the 21st century is to find a way to be One America. We can meet all the other challenges if we can go forward as One America.”

IfsWayYearsAmericaChallengesLandCenturyThousandYears AgoSlaveYesterdayShipsIslandsLos AngelesAncestorThousand Years21st CenturyMayflowerLaxEllis IslandSlave Ships
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1999
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“Banning human cloning reflects our humanity. It is the right thing to do. Creating a child through this new method calls into question our most fundamental beliefs. It has the potential to threaten the sacred family bonds at the very core of our ideals and our society. At its worst, it could lead to misguided and malevolent attempts to select certain traits, even to create certain kind of children -- to make our children objects rather than cherished individuals.”

HumansKindChildrenCertainHumanityIndividualBeliefWorstObjectsCreatingIdealsOur ChildrenMethodFundamentalsSacredCoreThings To DoRight ThingOur SocietyTraitsSelectMisguidedCloningFamily BondHuman Cloning
Author:William J. Clinton
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“You should have disagreements with your leaders and your colleagues, but if it becomes immediately a question of questioning people's motives, and if immediately you decide that somebody who sees a whole new situation differently than you must be a bad person and somehow twisted inside, we are not going to get very far in forming a more perfect union.”

PeopleIfsShouldPersonsWholePerfectSituationLeaderShould HaveUnionsMotiveQuestioningColleaguesTwistedDisagreementPartisanshipNew Situations
Author:William J. Clinton
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