For me, the one consistently pleasing thing about the news these days is
that the country finally seems willing to express some appreciation for
the good things Bill Clinton has done in the last eight years. Near the
end of the Reagan/Bush era I was convinced that the country was headed
for financial disaster; it seemed clear that big tax cuts and big
defense budgets could only result in the U.S. eventually
defaulting on its loans, just as smaller nations do. I'd lost hope that
we would ever find a leader strong enough, smart enough, and principled
enough to balance the budget, since it would require two difficult steps
that Reagan/Bush had been unable or unwilling to take: raising taxes
and reigning in spending. Bill Clinton did both, and I'm grateful to
him.
