B Y J A M E S C A R V I L L E
Youa culpa, youa culpa, With the economy booming, last week, this nation got the best economic news it has gotten in a long, long time. It is the kind of news that makes Bob Dole's economic sniping look even more ridiculous than it did before. It is the kind of news that will seal the deal when the two candidates debate on Sunday night. All spring and summer, the Census Bureau has been collecting and crunching all the income numbers for 1995. On Thursday, they came out with the results -- and Washington wonks weren't the only people sitting up and taking notice. The numbers proved that the economic gains we've been seeing for the past four years are not just going to folks in my tax bracket. Unlike the dark days of Ronald Reagan's trickle-down trickery, everyone's getting a piece of the action. The country is no longer growing apart. It's finally growing together. The average family is making a cool $1,600 more a year -- after inflation -- than it did in 1993. Black families have seen their incomes soar by $3,000. The rate of poverty among blacks and the elderly has fallen to the lowest level in history. And because the gains have been so evenly divided up, income inequality has dropped more than it has in almost three decades. What a difference four years makes! When the Census Bureau came out with the same income and poverty report four years ago, the verdict was dismal. The headlines said it all. The New York Times: "Ranks of U.S. Poor Reach 35.7 Million, the Most Since '64 ... Purchasing Power Dips." The Los Angeles Times: "Number of Poor in America Hits a 27-Year High." Reuters: "American Income Fell, Poverty Rate Soars." Even for a Louisiana loudmouth, it's hard to overstate what this change of fortune means for the country. And it's hard to overstate what this means for Bill Clinton, a man who came to office promising to do everything in his power to make the economy work for everyone. Best of all, these figures give me the opportunity to do something I've been wanting to do for some time now: hammer all the other right-wingers who predicted the coming of an apocalypse when Bill Clinton signed his big economic plan back in 1993. Let's start with Rush Hudson Limbaugh III. Rush was so damn sure the Clinton economic plan would be a disaster that he offered to bet the Democratic National Committee $1 million that at least three of the following five things would happen by 1996: The deficit would grow; unemployment would increase; inflation would rise; interest rates would surge; and the President's approval rating would be no higher than 45 percent. Hey, Rush, you whiffed on all five! I just wish the DNC had taken you up on your bet. With some of the proceeds, we could have bought you a broken Rolex. At least it would be right twice a day. John Kasich, the House budget chairman, was so cocksure he bet his cherished party affiliation: "This plan will not work. If it was to work, then I'd have to become a Democrat." Welcome to the party, John. Ain't no church in America that doesn't welcome a sinner. Newt Gingrich predicted that the Clinton economic plan would "lead to a recession next year. This is the Democrat machine's recession, and each one of them will be held personally responsible." Well, Newt, at least we can be sure you won't be claiming any of the credit. Besides, you don't have any time to be taking credit. You've got enough work on your hands just trying to keep your boys from throwing your ample tush overboard in a last-ditch effort to hold on to the House. Phil Gramm, who has the cojones to call himself an economics professor, predicted that "hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their jobs because of this bill." With clairvoyance like this, Phil, it's no wonder you had delusions of landing yourself in the Oval Office. Bob Dole was making the same asinine predictions. Even now, he's still tilting at windmills, trying to unseat the President with bizarre economic attacks. How's this for bizarre: Right after the Census report came out, Bob Dole said the economy's "as dead as it's been in the last hundred years." Bob, you want some free advice? It does no good to convince the voters that you are an eyewitness to a hundred years of history. It does even less good to try to convince the voters that our rip-roaring economy is doing worse than it did in the Great Depression. In case you're a little foggy on the details, that was the time when your family was so poor it moved to the basement to make room for tenants upstairs. The only way out, Senator, is to confess your sins. You're still going to get clobbered on Sunday in your debate. But at least when November comes along and you're sitting by the pool with all the other retirees in Florida, you will have a clear conscience. Repent and you will be free. Can Dole come back? Join Carville in Table Talk.
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