Clinton leaves impact in D.C.
Bush needs to follow former president’s accomplishments, ideas

“I’ll be back.” These are the last words that former president William Jefferson Clinton should have screamed at the top of his lungs before he boarded his plane to New York last Saturday.

As one of the most popular presidents of our time, Clinton not only oversaw one of the strongest economies to date but also one of the largest nationwide drops in crime in decades. He also accomplished an unheard of government surplus and many international victories.

This is a man who said during his final days in office how much he cherished his job as president and how much he would miss being able to do it everyday.

“I have loved these eight years,” Clinton said. “You know, I read in history books how other presidents say the White House is like a penitentiary, and every motive they have is suspect. And they all say they can’t wait to get away. I don’t know what the heck they’re talking about.”

I wonder if the note which Clinton left behind for the next president had anything in it highlighting his accomplishments or containing offers of advice and assistance for the future.

This is after all a man who made his mistakes but didn’t let it interfere with his work as leader of the free world.

Even during his impeachment trial, which many of his opponents hoped would be the end of him, his ratings skyrocketed to over 66 percent approval rating, an unseen high since Harry S. Truman.

For most people, an impeachment trial would be too much to handle, but not for Clinton. During one of the most turbulent times of his life he was able to accomplish the first budget surplus in more than 30 years. Even his staunch opponents can’t touch that one.

Now that Clinton’s time in office has come to an end, he has said he will use this extra time to rest and write his memoirs. That may be what he will try to do, but somehow I don’t think that is what he really has in his agenda book.

Clinton will probably take every available opportunity to make sure the nation knows what his opinion is on current affairs. He has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself.

But is there really anything wrong with that either?

No. Think about it, this is a man who has an eminent vocabulary (better than I can say for some presidents), more world-leader friends than any other former president and of course, in the past eight years, has helped to make our economy one of the healthiest it has been.

President George Walker Bush should pray very hard (it is a good thing that he made Sunday the day of prayer) that Clinton will come back to advise him on domestic and especially international issues.

Whether Bush will take any advice from him or not is yet to be seen. But a word of advice to Bush ... don’t think that you can keep Clinton or his influence out of Washington. He didn’t leave Socks, the cat, in Washington, D.C., for nothing.

Associate News Editor Hemi Ahluwalia is a junior broadcast journalism major from Stephenville.
She can be reached at (hemia@hotmail.com).

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