Zuhdi Shubeitah
العربية

Famous Sayings with Scattered Agendas

A short reflection collecting notable sayings and political observations, discussing Keynes on inflation, a Saint-Just quote, and how “It's the economy, stupid” shaped Clinton’s 1992 campaign.

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English translation, prepared and reviewed before publication. The Arabic text is authoritative.

Zuhdi ShubeitahBanking executive (former)
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·       "No one can govern... without committing a sin" ..!!.."Saint-Justa".

·       It was said in effect: one of the indicators of failure to admit what we do not know..!: that if medicine is unable to diagnose a disease it does not recognize, it attributes it to allergy...! And if a politician is surprised by an unexpected contingency...........he attributes it to conspiracy..!

·       It was said in effect: through continuous inflation, governments can secretly confiscate, without anyone noticing...!..a significant part of their citizens’ wealth..!! John Maynard Keynes…..

·       In former US President Clinton’s 1992 election campaign, his campaign managed to adopt the slogan "It's the economy, stupid"..!

·       The presidential race between President George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton favored Bush; "especially since he had just returned from the Middle East at that time, after securing adequate sources of oil during the evacuation of Iraqi forces from Kuwaiti territories in 1991, in addition to the recent collapse of the Soviet Union, all suggesting a rise in Bush’s popularity, so his re-election for a second presidential term seemed a foregone conclusion. In March 1991, a referendum was held on Bush’s performance, and Americans were satisfied with his performance at a rate of 90%, but the surprise occurred: the political consultant, "James Carville", was leading the presidential campaign at that time for the presidential candidate, Bill Clinton, and although Clinton was politically smaller than Bush; "Carville" excelled in steering Clinton’s campaign by condensing Clinton’s objectives into three sentences:

·       "Change vs. More", "It's the economy, stupid", "We won't forget health care". These objectives were hung in Clinton’s campaign headquarters. And the magic of the word economy was rampant.....!, especially since Bush had overlooked the recession ravaging some states; Carville exploited the economic downturn and courted Americans with it, directing attention to the deterioration of economic conditions inside the United States, which resulted in a drop in Bush’s popularity, according to a poll in August 1992 to only 64%.

·       Clinton reached the seat of power and managed to remain in the White House for two consecutive presidential terms, thanks to his focus on the economy, and the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" became one of the clichés of American politics, because the economy is the important measure for the peoples."..regardless of the common person’s lack of understanding of the nature of inflation, budget deficit and other technical terms."...., by contrast, some governments resort to inventing crises that do not actually exist, with the aim of distracting peoples and diverting their attention from the economic problems those governments are experiencing. .."....!

·       Date: 19-1-2021

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Zuhdi Shubeitah, “Famous Sayings with Scattered Agendas” (English translation of «أقوال مأثوره..........ذات أجندات مبعثره», originally published 12 September 2022), https://www.zuhdish.co/en/articles/famous-sayings-with-scattered-agendas

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