Thursday, March 22, 2007

Legacy?

RET sums up the Clinton presidency. From his new book:

THE CLINTONS ARE the two most exaggerated figures in modern American political history, more overblown by their supporters than Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt were by theirs. Of course, the Clintons got some minor legislation through in the 1990s. That is the modest assessment of a widening number of professional historians, most of whom note that the Clintons' main preoccupations were to batten down scandals and hold off various independent counsels while important initiatives were delayed -- for instance, Social Security reform and the war against terrorism. The Boy President got himself elected and re-elected while the Democratic Party's dominance in the country shrank. Hillary got herself elected to the Senate; but she has no legislation to show for it, only presidential preference polls, some of which show that nearly half of the American electorate would "definitely not vote for her." As politicians, the Clintons' main achievement has been raw survival, at a cost that has been enormous in terms of destructive legal precedents, eroded ethics, and infringements on the rule of law.