In 1992, Bill Clinton was running for President of the United States against George H.W. Bush. Mr. Clinton had a tendency to go off topic when answering questions in debates and interviews. He battled a reputation as a policy wonk, and (like many Democratic candidates of recent vintage) this reputation allowed Republicans to paint him as the second coming of one-term President Jimmy Carter. As the United States had recently been in a recession under the leadership of Mr. Bush, Clinton’s strategist James Carville used the phrase as a gentle reminder that if Clinton was to win he…

