Follow-Up

As a post-script to the previous post, I wanted to clarify my thoughts about Perot. For anyone who may doubt that the Clinton presidency was handed to us by Perot, check out these final numbers from each election:

1992

Clinton 43.3%

Bush - 37.7%
Perot - 19%

1996

Clinton - 49%
Dole - 41%
Perot - 8%

It is the conventional wisdom (and see here for analysis) that possible Bush/Dole voters favored Perot more than possible Clinton voters. Particularly if you look at the numbers from '96, when Clinton had the incumbent advantage, it was exactly Perot's percentage that split Clinton's and Dole's takes of the votes.

This is our reality, despite our desire to ignore it. Without Perot, we would very likely be on a 24-year losing streak. Though we cannot discount Clinton's popularity while in office and after leaving office, to cite his centrist model as the be-all end-all of our problems is simply absurd.