Tell Me Why I Should Believe Bill Clinton Will Go Down In History As a Good Pres

Hi! I was not a democrat during Clinton's presidency and I listened to all the criticism against him. So, I wasn't a Clinton fan to begin with. I'll tell you what changed my mind about him, though. He was introspective and he's the first president I've ever seen who evaluated what he did and admitted he made mistakes. I saw an article he wrote about a situation he handled (I don't remember the details) but he wrote that he was wrong and he wished he'd have done things differently. I admire that quality greatly in a person - the ability to evaluate what they've done and admit it was wrong. It takes a strong man with a strong character to be able to do that. That's why I like Bill Clinton today. :-)

The only thing I know Clinton did that was commendable was he kept the US out of war. So maybe he was better at diplomacy than other Presidents. I am from the US and I did not vote for him nor did I care for the way he acted as President. But any president that can negotiate on a diplomatic level gets my attention.

Why do people abroad think Clinton was a great president? Because he's the most RECENT president who was any good (it's a truth universally acknowledged that Bush is a bad president). People's memories rarely stretch back further than 15/16 years. If people remember George Bush Senior they admire him for putting the coalition together for the first Gulf War, but don't rate him for his recession. Hardly anyone remembers Reagan - those who do give him credit for making peace with the Soviet Union against the advice of his advisors, but they also remember his Alzeimers-induced gaffes in the final years. Above all Clinton looks good compared to Bush. Clinton could just send a gunboat to patrol in foreign waters, and foreign powers would tremble. By contrast, people just laugh at Bush, and the more gradiose his statements the more they laugh, because he has finally exposed the limits of American power. If you are losing a war against a poor state that was weakened by a decade of sanctions and lack of imports, you'll lose a war against pretty much everyone else, and everyone on earth knows it. Hurricane Katrina was also very significant. A superpower is one so strong that they can not only look after themselves they can look after others. Katrina showed America struggling to look after herself. Even Bangladesh, the poorest country in the world, send aid money - and their money was accepted! Bush will be remembered as the president who inherited a superpower and reduced her to just another country. Make no mistake, his administration is a turning point in history. By conrast ALL the previous presidents look good, even Nixon and Carter.

I know you said no more response but I wanted to put in my 2 cents. The economy was better and the budget was balanced under Clinton. The foreign countries didn't hate him the way they do Bush. His mistakes were personal and didn't affect the way he did his job. They were embarrassing but only because he lived in a fish bowl. If I was unfaithful to my husband I would still be able to do my job and it probably wouldn't make the nationwide headlines. I would have to live with my conscience just as he does. He wasn't perfect, none of them are but I do think we were better off then than now.

Hey, gifana! Were you able to write "Bill Clinton" and "Go Down" in the same sentence and keep a straight face? LOL

Bill Clinton will go down as a good president only in the eyes of the democrats, the liberal hollywood and the news media which I believe is bias. The econonly was okay under Clinton but that was a matter of timing instead of anything Clinton while head of state. The budget was balanced only when the republicans took control of congress under the lead of Newt. Then you can look at the fact he turned a blind eye towards the gaining islamic terrorist threat. We had been attacked many times in the 90's by terrorist and Clinton didnt do anything about it because he was more concered about approval polls then fighting the enemy. He even had a chance to get Osama but failed. When you put all this thing together you would have to be he was a failure as a president.

I am neither a republican nor a democrat; I am simply a commonsense logician - simply accept the good and fair of ideas. Anyway, despite his weakness with his pants, the man was a good-natured person. He sought to stand for the rights of all Americans; making sure people were viewed, at government level, by the laws of the land (and not according to their personal preferences!) I personally think that that was note-worthy.

Personally, I don't have one good thing to say about him. The man bypassed congress and the house by signing in more Executive Orders than all previous presidents of the US combined. To me, that is a grievous abuse of power.