History UsefulNotes / BillClinton

->''"[[BlatantLies I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.]]"''

* FountainOfExpies: For many people, Clinton humanized the presidency and brought a younger, more dynamic energy to it; it's not surprising that fictional presidents became the main character of movies like ''Film/AirForceOne'' and ''Film/TheAmericanPresident'' during his tenure. Both of those movies, not coincidentally, had presidents with a single young daughter, as did ''Film/IndependenceDay''. ''Series/TheWestWing'' had a president with three daughters, but the college-aged Zoe, rougly the same age as Chelsea Clinton when the show premiered in 1999, was by far the most prominent.

* {{Leitmotif}}: ''"Don't stop thinking about tomorrow..."''

* FountainOfExpies: For many people, Clinton humanized the presidency and brought a younger, more dynamic energy to it; it's not surprising that fictional presidents became the main character of movies like ''Film/AirForceOne'' and ''Film/TheAmericanPresident'' during his tenure. Both of those movies, not coincidentally, had presidents with a single young daughter; ''Series/TheWestWing'' had a president with three daughters, but the college-aged Zoe was by far the most prominent.

** BillHicks also figured it out:

* NiceToTheWaiter: Clinton, whose parents both worked low-paid service jobs, ALWAYS makes a point of going back to the kitchens after public app to chat with the staff, thank them for their work, and offer pictures and autographs. This was the reason the bartender leaked Mitt Romney's "47%" speech in 2012, since he remembered being treated well by Clinton in contrast with Romney's dismissive attitude that evening.

'''William Jefferson''' '''"Bill"''' '''Clinton''' (August 19, 1946-) was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.

'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' (August 19, 1946-) was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.

'''William Jefferson''' '''''"Bill"''''' '''Clinton''' (August 19, 1946-) was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.

'''William Jefferson''' '''''"Bill"''''' '''Clinton''' (b. 1946) was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.

** For what it's worth, [[UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton Hillary]] isn't exactly a skinny-minnie either.

** As a spectator during the HillaryClinton Vs. Monica Lewinsky fight where he [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage praises one of them]] before asking a woman (which turns out to be Paula Jones) to hand him a bag of peanuts which is [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud caught in the microphone as]] [[PoorCommunicationKills "Would you mind grabbing my]] [[DoubleEntendre nuts?"]] Cue [[EnemyMine Hillary and Monica teaming up to chase him out of the arena.]]

** Also, in "E Pluribus Wiggum", he was in Springfield posting signs for [[HillaryRodhamClinton his wife]]'s campaign. When she told him over the phone he needed to put 25 more signs, he asked what he did to deserve that. She told him he knew what he did and he complained [[NeverLiveItDown she'd never let him live it down]].

After briefly working as a law professor, Clinton began to make a name for himself in state politics. He ran for the House of Representatives in 1974, narrowly losing to the incumbent, and then served two years as the state’s Attorney General. In 1978, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at only 32 years old, but he made a number of unpopular decisions and lost reelection two years later. ‘’And then’’, another two years later, he won a second term by moving more towards the political center, and he remained governor until after winning the presidency 10 years later. Clinton used these experiences to realize that the party’s usual left-leaning policies were losing popularity, and he became part of a group of party leaders who moved the party more towards a center-left position. He skillfully managed to balance traditional Democratic beliefs, such as help for minorities and aid for welfare and education, with [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan era]] support for the middle class and economic growth. In 1988, he delivered the official nomination speech for that year’s presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis. The speech was a famous failure, with Clinton bumbling through and going almost twice over the scheduled length. People at the convention actually booed him.

** For what it's worth, [[HillaryClinton Hillary]] isn't exactly a skinny-minnie either.

* ControversyProofImage: The EPITOME of this trope. Many of the scandals brought against Clinton could have (or have) ended the career of any lesser politician. However, Clinton navigated them relatively unscathed and continues to maintain large popularity among the American people. His approval rating leaving office was over 60% and today he is considered to be one of the most popular politicians in America; indeed he is about as well-liked among modern Democrats as [[RonaldReagan a similarly slick 1980s president who got by all his political enemies]] is among modern Republicans.

* Was mentioned in ''AnsemRetort'', after Zexion revealed part of the reason he slept with the JailBait Namine was to get into Clinton's Sex Scandal Poker Game. Namine is surprised that Bill Clinton runs such a game. Then Zex reveals he's ''[[TwistEnding not]]'' [[HillaryRodhamClinton talking about]] ''[[HillaryRodhamClinton Bill]]'' [[HillaryRodhamClinton Clinton]]...

* In the dub of ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Osaka tells Chiyo-Dad that he looks "kinda like that American man, BillClinton." (In the original Japanese, it was Yoshiro Mori, an unpopular prime minister.) He does not react positively to this.

Since leaving office, he has become an acclaimed public speaker and charity organizer. Clinton had perhaps the widest range of satirical portrayals of any president. At the beginning his comedic persona was that of a [[DeepSouth hickish southerner]]; a "Bubba" who [[AndADietCoke enjoyed too much fast food]] and was out of his league in UsefulNotes/{{Washington|DC}}. As his presidency went on, parodies increasingly played upon a "Slick Willie" portrayal, a fast-talker in both the situation room and the bedroom, able to invoke RefugeInAudacity to barrel through scandals with his popularity rating remaining high. He is currently largely known in media parody/satire for his playing of the saxophone and as a HandsomeLech for all those sex scandals. Given the masterful use of WeaselWords during the Lewinsky scandal (including the legendary "that depends on what you definition of the word 'is' is"), he also has a reputation of being able to talk his way out of anything. Despite his sex scandal, he was actually one of the most popular presidents among women, due to a number of policies that were generally acclaimed as feminist. Also, due to her own involvement in politics, Hillary Clinton has perhaps been the target of more satire than any other First Lady: most of these satires played up her own LadyMacbeth nature and the notion of a "Faustian Deal" with her husband wherein she would stay with him, no matter how many affairs he might have, in exchange for promoting Hill to political office. Hillary ran for the Democratic Party nomination in 2008, but narrowly lost to BarackObama. The White House website was launched in 1994.

** This trope was revisited in 2013 when a [[http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BBJo190CIAA1Tuj-650x466.png photo reached the internet]] of Clinton supposedly checking out full-figured singer KellyClarkson during BarackObama's second inauguration.

** [[RuleOfThree Even older joke:]] Four former presidents are transported to the land of Oz. Upon meeting the Wizard, RichardNixon requests a heart; JimmyCarter then steps forward and asks for some courage, and George Bush Sr., a brain. Once the others have received their gifts, Bill Clinton steps forward and sheepishly asks, "...is Dorothy here?"

** He was once seen with JimmyCarter and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush building domiciles for the destitutes. Their interaction was like Film/TheThreeStooges featuring Clinton as Curly, Carter as Larry, and Bush as Moe.

'''William Jefferson''' '''''"Bill"''''' '''Clinton''' (b. 1946) was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.

Born in Arkansas, Clinton’s father died in a car accident just months before his birth, and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. His mother remarried in 1950 to an abusive alcoholic. He died in 1967. From a young age, he showed an interest in music and politics. Clinton learned to play the saxophone, and he also joined several political clubs in high school. In 1963, he met and shook hands with JohnFKennedy at the White House, and the photograph of this moment was constantly used during his campaigns. The UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement was a hot topic in the South while he was a young man, and, even though he went to a segregated high school, he supported the black activists and even memorized King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. During college, he protested UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, and to this day many critics claimed that he used loopholes to avoid the draft.[[note]]This is technically true; he worked as an aide to a Senator, and he used his connections to help delay Clinton’s enlistment while he completed college. Then, after the infamous draft lottery was pulled, Clinton’s birthdate was so low on the list that he never had to worry about getting drafted.[[/note]] He transferred to Yale Law School, earning a degree in 1973, and also met a beautiful young woman named [[HillaryRodhamClinton Hillary]]. They married in 1975 and had a daughter, Chelsea, five years later.

After briefly working as a law professor, Clinton began to make a name for himself in state politics. He ran for the House of Representatives in 1974, narrowly losing to the incumbent, and then served two years as the state’s Attorney General. In 1978, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at only 32 years old, but he made a number of unpopular decisions and lost reelection two years later. ‘’And then’’, another two years later, he won a second term by moving more towards the political center, and he remained governor until after winning the presidency 10 years later. Clinton used these experiences to realize that the party’s usual left-leaning policies were losing popularity, and he became part of a group of party leaders who moved the party more towards a center-left position. He skillfully managed to balance traditional Democratic beliefs, such as help for minorities and aid for welfare and education, with [[RonaldReagan Reagan era]] support for the middle class and economic growth. In 1988, he delivered the official nomination speech for that year’s presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis. The speech was a famous failure, with Clinton bumbling through and going almost twice over the scheduled length. People at the convention actually booed him.

Luckily, this incident did not hurt him in the long run, and he announced he was running for his party’s nomination in the next election. He pretty easily won the party ticket, and it also seemed that voters didn’t care about the accusations of womanizing, pot smoking, and draft dodging.[[note]]Clinton stealthily admitted to each of those in ways that were technically not lying but still making him look more innocent than he was.[[/note]] The economy was in a recession that year and deficits were skyrocketing, and incumbent UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush ran a very weak campaign. It also helped that a third party nominee, Ross Perot, won almost 19% of the popular vote, taking away many votes from Bush. With his smooth performances in the debates, Clinton easily won an Electoral College landslide despite only winning 43% of the popular vote. The Democrats also kept majorities in both chambers of Congress. After 12 straight years of Republicans in the White House (24 if you don’t count JimmyCarter’s brief and troubled single term), Clinton managed to bring the Democrats their first major victory in a long time and, by moving them to the center, saved them from accusations of losing touch with voters. AlGore was his Vice President for both terms.

The economy continued to boom for his second term. For eight straight years under Clinton, the economy grew without a single real interruption, unemployment reached a low point of 3.8% (the lowest since 1969), home ownership peaked, and wages doubled. He was helped in his last few years by the “dot-com bubble,” which saw the Dow Jones surpass 10,000 for the first time. Crime rates continued to plummet, and when he left office they were about 40% lower than at the beginning of his presidency. He also passed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), extending health coverage to millions of children from poor families. Most important of all, he oversaw three straight years of budget surpluses from 1998 to 2000, the first surpluses since the days of CalvinCoolidge. Given the state of the economy, Clinton had a higher approval rating when he left office than any other President had when exiting the White House; only Roosevelt, who died in office rather than leaving it, had a higher rating during his last poll. He also took on some suggestions from the Republican Party to maintain his moderate image, the most notable being the deregulation of the banks. In hindsight, this was actually a very bad idea, resulting in so many bank mergers that it created the “too big to fail” banks of the 2000’s. The Glass-Steagall Act was also repealed, which meant that banks could now use government loans for risky investments. Clinton has since recognized that this was one of many causes of the Great Recession and admits responsibility. He also gave a number of controversial end-of-term pardons before leaving office, with most of the recipients being party allies.[[note]]One of the pardons was for his brother Roger, codenamed 'Headache' by the Secret Service due to his inability to stay out of trouble. Less than a month after receiving the pardon--and after Bill had left office--Roger [[TooDumbToLive was arrested for drunk driving]].[[/note]]

Clinton is generally held to be a minor foreign policy President. His foreign policy was generally based around economically tying the country to others and increasing international trade; he normalized trade relations with China in 2000 and prevented Mexico’s economy from collapsing in 1995. Deals were made with BorisYeltsin to help smooth over post-Cold War relations, but these aren’t particularly notable. He helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement to solve UsefulNotes/TheTroubles in 1998, which were successful, and he presided over the Oslo Accords in an attempt to solve the ArabIsraeliConflict, but these were unsuccessful since Israel’s Prime Minister was assassinated. When he entered office, American troops were in Somalia in an attempt to deliver food to civilians during a civil war, but the Americans troops were brutally attacked and killed and he had them withdrawn. This led to America pretty much ignoring the UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}} genocide in 1994 out of fear of something similar happening, for which he is still widely criticized. American forces were sent to Haiti in 1994 to return the country’s President to power after a military coup. In 1998, the US and the UK bombed military targets in Iraq after SaddamHussein stopped complying with UsefulNotes/UnitedNations weapons inspectors. His greatest accomplishments were his interventions in TheYugoslavWars, bombing Serbia in 1995 and in 1999 to protect Bosnia and Kosovo, respectfully, and sending NATO troops to end the fighting. He’s still beloved in both countries over there for this.

* He also made a second appearance in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' (with did all the presidents up to him), and two more in ''PinkyAndTheBrain'' one in the 1996 campaign, [[spoiler:he loses to Pinky]]); the other as a HeadInAJar still serving as President, 22nd Amendment be damned. (Hillary's there, too, and still doing some of his job functions.) He also appeared in "The Pinky Protocol", where Brain tricked GeraldFord into signing a document (the eponymous protocol) which Brain passed as something signed and filed back when Ford was the President. According to that document, if any President is caught on underwear in public, said President would be impeached and Brain, as "Harold Foster Brain", would become the new ruler of the United States. Bill's shorts from his daily exercises counted.

* ''FamilyGuy'' portrays him as a LovableSexManiac who frequently gets naked. And he slept with Lois and Peter.
* He was portrayed on ''TheSimpsons'' more than once.
-->'''Homer''': Bill Clinton, everybody! He's JimmyCarter with a [[BitingTheHandHumor Fox attitude]]!

* Clinton also appeared in an episode of ''BeavisAndButthead'' while visiting Highland High answering questions and [=McVicker=] tries to keep the titular characters away by giving them an out of school pass and fifty dollars.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Bill Clinton is good friends with UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush. They frequently, and consistently, do fundraising tours together for important humanitarian causes, most notably during the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

* ExactWords: During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Clinton was asked whether he had "had sex" with her, and he responded with "I did not have sex with that woman". It was then revealed that he got a blowjob from her. He claimed that a blowjob was not sex, so technically he was not lying.

* ExactWords: during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Clinton was asked whether he had "had sex" with him, and he responded with "I did not have sex with that woman". It was then revealed that he got a blowjob from her. He claimed that a blowjob was not sex, so technically he was not lying.

** "I did not have sexual relations with THAT woman... Ms. Lewinsky." [[ButForMeItWasTuesday It's like he had to remind himself just who he was talking about.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:Now ''everyone'' gets to see him from this angle.]]

* Jack Stanton in the RomanAClef novel ''PrimaryColors'' is based on Clinton. In the film adaptation, Stanton is played by JohnTravolta.

'''William Jefferson Clinton''' (b. 1946), most commonly known as ‘’’Bill Clinton’’’, was formerly the 42nd President of the United States ([[TheNineties 1993-2001]]). Still alive, he served between UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and was the first Democrat elected to two terms since FranklinDRoosevelt. The Clinton presidency is most well-known for a prosperous economy and for his impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress.