Quote:
Originally Posted by Peregrino
I too never doubted the quality of his character; and to me, character counts for a lot. I'm looking forward to history's verdict. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll still be around when the passage of time finally allows an objective analysis of his presidency. I suspect if they're still around, significant numbers of his most vocal detractors will spontaneously combust when the final verdict is made known.
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My guestimate is that, eventually, historians will group together the post-Cold War presidents and spend as much writing about what they had in common than what set them apart. The reputations of the Bush the Elder and his son will go up, as will Clinton's. The current president will be cast as much less liberal and progressive as his contemporaneous supporters and critics believe.
Domestically, the U.S. will be portrayed as being increasingly fragmented politically, socially, and culturally even though, overall, it will have continued its ongoing shift to the right on a great many issues.
Internationally, these four presidents will take a drubbing for not being more effective in taking America from the Cold War to what followed.
One prevailing theme will be of lost opportunities. For the two Bushes, the opportunities will be about vision. Bush the Elder couldn't quite see the everyday concerns of the American people IRT the economy. Bush the Younger was largely disinterested in the details of his grand strategy for GWOT.
For Clinton, the lost opportunities will be due to the former letting his little head do the thinking for his big head. Like the guy, hate the guy, Clinton had the makings for presidential greatness.
For the current president, the lost opportunity will be an occasion for enduring bitter irony. His opportunistic, self-interested approach to politics will end up costing the nation myriad opportunities to advance its self interest both at home and abroad. (The guy needed to do his job as a senator, to develop a basic level of competence as a parliamentarian, to answer questions as asked, and to figure out that it isn't all about him before he threw his hat in the ring.)
Another prevailing theme will the impact of populism on both parties. Populism, more than gridlock in the Beltway, is at the core of the decreasing effectiveness of .GOV and the deterioration of American political culture.
YMMV.