Uncommon Knowledge: Tale Of Two Decades

Uncommon Knowledge ^ | 4/15/2002 | Hoover Institute

[jodorowsky]

Peter Robinson: Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge. I'm Peter Robinson. Our show today, the last two decades of the twentieth century. The '80s and the '90s were both dominated by two term presidents and both enjoyed long, economic expansions yet the two decades are on something of teeter-totter, those who liked the '80s under Reagan tend to dislike the '90s under Clinton while those who liked the '90s under Clinton tend to think of the '80s under Reagan as the greed decade. How come? Joining us today, two guests.

P.J. O'Rourke is the best-selling humorist. His most recent book is entitled, The CEO of the Sofa.

Haynes Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. His most recent book is entitled, The Best of Times, America in the Clinton Years.

Real/WinMedia and transcript here

[jodorowsky]

Oops... I didn't mean for this to show up in the sidebar.

[gov_bean_ counter]

As I recall, during the Reagan years, more people moved from poverty level to middle class than at any other time in history. However, during the Clinton years, the difference between the wealthy and every one else grew.

[Drew68]

Big PJ BUMP!

[ellery]

pj bttt

[Nonstatist]

Haynes Johnson: ..human beings--most of them are like me in the mushy middle

Johnson's mushy, but he's not in the middle. It s just amzing how much the guy tries to spin Clinton into being some kind of deep person. O'Roarke, on the other hand seems to speak more directly and, with such cutting humor.. IMO

[jodorowsky]

Haynes Johnson: Yeah, I mean, it's a part of our history and part of our time. We all saw it. I mean, saw it more than we wanted to see it and so forth, so on. But that he (Clinton) won because women, minorities and across the board, saw in him something that wasn't this ideological construct that he was not a good person, a despicable person, that he maybe understood what the needs were in these groups. And the Republicans didn't get that. They really didn't get that. And I don't think they still get it today.

Shudder...

O'Rourke's explanation of positive and negative rights around the 20 minute mark is very good. But it's better experienced in RealMedia than as a transcript...

[Harp]

I haven't listened to this one yet -- it's cued up -- but I've always thought if Haynes Johnson as one of the greatest mediocrities around.

Gotta love PJ though.

[Harp]

OMG, Haynes is a moron. The best he could do with the PJ's unremarkable categories for rights (positive "gimme" rights / and negative "hands off" rights) was to say something about it being in "black and white terms." Laughable.

[lds23]

Any relation to El Topo? One of my all-time favorite movies.