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It entered general usage in the 1990s during the administration of U.S. president Bill Clinton . Admirers and detractors alike described the Clinton administration as a haven for policy wonks, Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore first among equals.

Admirers saw Clinton's wonkish tendencies as a welcome change from what they regarded as the detached, ideologically driven leadership of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush . Detractors believed that Clinton's obsession with policy details caused him to lose sight of larger goals, and to spend valuable time agonizing over minutiae that should have been left to staff members.


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