Sean Wilentz, "20 Years Later: How Bill Clinton Saved Liberalism From Itself", The New Republic, 11 October 2011.

In order to overcome the Reagan ascendency Democrats needed to advance the rights secured during the 1960s while returning to more traditional political bedrock. To a remarkable extent, Clinton delivered on that promise...Governor Clinton said in 1991: “Government’s responsibility is to create more opportunity for everybody, and our responsibility is to make the most of it.” These are Democratic ideas, and liberal ones. Bill Clinton reaffirmed, updated, and carried them forward into the twenty-first century.

— Sean Wilentz

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "In order to overcome the Reagan ascendency Democrats needed to advance the rights secured during the 1960s while returning to more traditional political bedrock. To a remarkable extent, Clinton delivered on that promise...Governor Clinton said in 1991: “Government’s responsibility is to create more opportunity for everybody, and our responsibility is to make the most of it.” These are Democratic ideas, and liberal ones. Bill Clinton reaffirmed, updated, and carried them forward into the twenty-first century." in the context of "Sean Wilentz, "20 Years Later: How Bill Clinton Saved Liberalism From Itself", The New Republic, 11 October 2011." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Bill Clinton" (Quotes about Clinton: (alpabetical by author)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 03, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bill Clinton

About Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III ; 19 August 1946) is an American politician and the 42nd president of the United States of America, and the husband of Hillary Rodham Clinton.