At the beginning of a new Presidential administration, I find myself attempting to reconcile my own personal feelings about the Clinton-Gore years, with the dual dilemmas of;

a) what I would tell my 9 month old daughter when she asked some day.

b) how best to form a critical, reasonably objective response to the very well worded and thought out argument, presented to me last week, by my wonderfully intelligent and annoyingly liberal father-in-law.

It is my hope that the following passages will clearly outline my considered opinion on the topic of, “the Clinton Legacy…”

The Clinton Legacy:

When judging the Clinton-Gore administration from the negative perspective, the preponderance of evidence pointing to vilification is so large as to obscure all else. This thereby hinders a critical evaluation of their relevant importance and impact on both the Country and the legacy of the Administration in and of themselves. Acknowledging this fact, I will start with the positive.

THE ECONOMY:

In any responsible examination of the Clinton-Gore years, one must first face the huge economic boom to which Clinton is often given credit for. In the largest period of economic growth in United States History, I would assign a ź of the responsibility to the policies of Bill Clinton (The remaining ž’ths being evenly divided between Alan Greenspan, the overall state of the private sector, and pharmaceutical and tech industry booms). In addition to the above, the defense budget was cut from 5.2% of the GDP to 3% (this was not, as it initially appears, desirable in any way, but more on that later).

By quickly embracing GATT and the WTO, Clinton helped solidify the base of the global free trade initiatives started under Reagan and Bush (although his enthusiasm and support waned considerably for free trade later under pressure from union and radical left elements of the Democratic party).

Clinton also backed a “strong dollar” policy as opposed to “weak dollar” policy. This was gutsy as it flew directly in the face of the conventional wisdom on trade-deficit reduction strategies, which said that a “weak U.S. dollar”, allows for lower prices on US goods overseas so they sell more – this decreases the trade deficit. A “strong dollar” however prevented the import of inflation from the rest of the world and allowed The FED to concentrate on growing the economy.

Finally the financial rescues of Mexico and the IMF in Asia helped stabilize the world economic stage thereby further shoring up ours.

SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/GOVERNMENT REFORM:

The single largest accomplishment, with no qualifying factors or caveats, must be Clinton’s Welfare reform which simultaneously decreased Government spending while providing a new influx of cheap entry level workers to help fuel the new economic expansion. In addition, this and other government reform issues helped decrease the size of the United States government. Under Clinton-Gore the decreases in Federal spending vs GDP was 3%. Meager, but still more than any recent Republican administration was able to accomplish.

Even the most ardent Clinton detractor must acknowledge the above noted accomplishments. They are real, and had a significant positive impact of the lives of all Americans and the future direction of the Nation. The Quid-pro-quo to that being the even the most ardent Clinton Apologist must acknowledge the following issues which had a decidedly negative impact of the lives of all Americans and the future direction of the Nation.

OVERALL FOREIGN POLICY:

Clinton-Gore foreign policy is most easily identified by its complete lack of framework. Policies were developed completely “on the fly”. They were not consistent, nor did they build upon each other. Unlike the “Monroe Doctrine”, the “Truman Doctrine”, or even the “Reagan Doctrine” which were based on strong, clearly defined and understandable goals, the “Clinton Doctrine” emerges from a fog of ill-conceived principals.

Clinton’s foreign policy boiled down to confused, “ideals” driven (rather than goal driven) intervention, under conditions of acceptable political costs. Somalia is the textbook example of the “Clinton Doctrine” in action.

The administration was so self absorbed and self-conscience about it's legacy and popular clout, it was forced to pander to every “poll” the short news-cycle media could muster. The result was that “domestic policy“ clouded the waters of “foreign policy” which forced the administration to avoid that which was difficult or even right because of their paralyzing fear of the masses.

In addition to the above, it is also important to note that the Clinton Administration oversaw a systematic erosion of US armed forces to less than ˝ of their size prior to his election. In a report presented to Clinton in 1999, the CIA warned the president that it would be logistically and militarily impossible to successfully prosecute a war simultaneously on two fronts should Iraq and Korea both ignite again. Never in Post WWII history has the United States EVER been faced with this highly unacceptable dilemma.

MID-EAST PEACE:

The simple fact of the matter on this issue is that the whole thing was a wash. One big, expensive, time consuming wash. Over the 8 years of Clinton-Gore, any and all progress made was so quickly un-made or undermined that it was rendered inconsequential. Unlike the current trend in education in this country, I will not give Clinton marks simply for trying. Peace was not attained in any measurable way despite massive amounts of energy and resources. The fact is that the Middle East that Mr. Clinton is going to bequeath to Mr. Bush is far worse than the Middle East he inherited from Mr.Bush's father.

THE HEALTH CARE DEBACLE:

It was not bad enough that this was an abysmal failure of vision, execution, policy, and politics, which wasted millions of tax-payer dollars and accomplished less than nothing, it also reached the level of public relations disaster and borderline “constitutional crisis” with the appointment of Health Care “Czarina” Hillary Rodhan Clinton, who had the dual insults of zero experience coupled with zero accountability.

NO ENERGY POLICY WHATSOEVER:

Lack of subject expertise and interest (at a time when the use of political clout was far more valuable elsewhere) combined with a policy of back-alley appeasement of the liberal environmental elements of its base, resulted in a Clinton-Gore energy policy which was so anemic as to be non-existent. A total lack of direction and cohesion coupled to insanely protective public land policies ensured the resultant energy crisis looming on our national horizon (and to which we have only recently had a taste of). Not only has there been no support of further exploration or acquisition of domestic petroleum, curiously, there has been little interest in even a token effort at increasing R&D of alternative energy solutions which would have helped in the appeasement of the radical left (the only explanation for the latter is political apathy on the subject).

The above elements have united to place this nation in a position of greater reliance on foreign petroleum, and by default, greater vulnerability to foreign influence. It has had the effect of shackling our national policy and agenda. We must now take into account a disproportionate concern for the economic, military, and political affects on, and perceptions of a foreign Cartel. A Foreign Cartel who’s members are, at best, of neutral feelings towards us - at worst, bent on our destruction.

Lastly, on this issue, let us not forget the fact that the likelihood of continued economic expansion is placed in serious jeopardy by the current energy situation which Clinton did ZERO to avoid. The simple fact is that Bill Clinton failed abysmally in one of his most important and under appreciated responsibilities to this nation.

CHARACTER, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND SERVICE:

In response to the suggestion that he allow his staff to silence Senator Joe McCarthy’s attempts to undermine the current Presidential Administration by blackmailing the Senator, Harry Truman responded emphatically,

“NO…If I dirty this office the dirt does not leave with me when I leave. It stays here to rub off on every other person who comes through here…”

This is a man, who if like all men was not perfect, understood what most presidents have – that the personal responsibility, public trust, and sacred honor of the Executive Office of the United States requires one to rise above the political and amoral quagmire. That as a bare minimum, a certain level of decorum, integrity, personal restraint, and altruism is required in order to effectively serve the people. Bill Clinton’s greatest legacy, and his greatest indictment, is his complete and utter failure to adhere to these basic, self-evident truths.

Bill Clinton was a model of self-preservation. Bill Clinton was a student of deception. Bill Clinton placed personal agenda above not only his self professed beliefs, not only above the needs of his political party, but above the needs of his country. This is not rhetoric -it is truth. It is truth that even a child could understand. Even his own wife was not safe from the man’s utter lack of shame and humility, as he allowed her to make a fool of herself before an anxious nation in support of his lies.

While we are on the subject of lies, it is critical to point out that I do not merely refer to one lie, or even a series of lies on the same issue. Bill Clinton’s limitless spewing of falsehoods bordered on the pathological. To quote the “Wall Street Journal”, Bill Clinton’s presidency “is a story about lying as a philosophy of life and a philosophy of government."

He indignantly told the American people on national television, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

In a 60 Minutes interview, journalist Steve Kroft asked: "I'm assuming from your answer that you're categorically denying you've ever had an affair with Gennifer Flowers?" Clinton replied: "I've said that before, and so has she." In his deposition in the Paula Jones case, Clinton admitted having sex with Flowers.

On ABC News Nightline The President displayed the ultimate chutzpa when he said defensively, "All I've been asked about by the press are a woman [sic] I didn't sleep with (He did) and a draft I didn't dodge (He did)."

Yet the above laundry list does not even begin to scratch the surface of the moral turpitude to which the Clinton administration sank (taking the nation alone with it).

Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Dolly Kyle Browning, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick – NUFF Said?
Oral sex and the Oval Office, in the same sentence, on prime time national television, for weeks. This certainly gave new and colorful meaning to grade school current events assignments across the country.
The caveat that sexual harassment in the work place is unacceptable in America today, unless it is practiced by the President.
The meaning of the word "IS".
72 House and Senate witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment on Democrat campaign fundraising.
17 witnesses who have fled the country to avoid testifying about Democrat campaign fundraising.
19 charges, 8 convictions, and 4 imprisonments from the Whitewater investigation.
55 criminal charges and 32 criminal convictions (so far) in other various "Clinton" scandals.
Impeachment by the United States House of Representatives.

Obstruction of justice, perjury, crimes which would put you and I behind bars, were not even worthy of mention when it came to Mr. Clinton. Bill Clinton made it very, very clear, that he considered himself well above the law.

Even when technically not “illegal” Clinton transcended not only the borders of ethics and good taste, he left the planet! From the painfully suspicious 11^th hour pardoning of criminal fugitives like Marc Rich to the “appropriation” of $28,000.00 in furniture “mistakenly” moved with the Clintons belongings on their departure from the White house, one does not need to be Kenneth Starr to see the trail of slime. Indeed, it is my sincere opinion that only the most self-delusional or ignorant could possibly deny, “all is not well in Denmark”.

In the final analysis, Clinton’s promise of being “The most Ethical Administration in the history of the United States”, is a joke of gargantuan proportions. Even so, had he kept that promise, he still would have gone down in history as a president of modest inconsequence who had several large failures (Energy, Foreign Policy, Mid East Peace, The Military) one or two modest successes (GATT/WTO and welfare reform) and a small part in one very large success (The economic boom). When you add in his horrifying disregard for the law, ethics, and personal accountability, Clinton emerges from the dust as a man of low practical ability and morals who played the instruments of personal politics and influence while the White House burned.