Clinton leaves legacy of success at home, abroad

Goldstein is a third-year UCLA law student.

By Sean Goldstein

Over the past year, much has been made of the “Clinton
Legacy,” and what exactly that legacy will be. On the right,
the hope is that any mention of Clinton in the history books will
begin and end with his impeachment. Since impeachment is a such a
rare event of constitutional significance, it is unlikely that this
aspect of the Clinton presidency will fade away over time.

Yet, this impeached president leaves office with an approval
rating higher than Republican icon Ronald Reagan, suggesting that
Clinton’s accomplishments will not fade away so easily
either.

The ’92 Clinton campaign ran on the mantra
“It’s the economy stupid,” and the economy has
certainly been the defining aspect of the Clinton years. The
unprecedented economic and technological boom of the ’90s has
filled a lot of pockets with a lot of money, leaving Clinton to
bask in the glow of good times. There are, of course, differing
views on whether Clinton deserves any credit for the economy.

On one end of the spectrum, there are those who credit Clinton
for “creating” the boom. On the other end, there are
those who assert that a trained chimp could have overseen the
economy ““ in other words, the economic boom had nothing to do
with Clinton’s policies and everything to do with the hard
work and ingenuity of the American people. Neither view is
completely accurate.

  Illustration by HINGYI KHONG/Daily Bruin In a capitalist
country such as our own, no president or government is going to
“create” a flourishing economy. The private sector
provides jobs and growth. But governmental policies can certainly
steer the economy in a positive direction (as those who credit
Reagan with the economic “recovery” of the ’80s
must admit).

On this count, Clinton will be given credit for his stewardship.
He pursued a prudent policy of balanced budgets and debt reduction.
He allowed Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve to play a
proactive role with regard to interest rates and inflation. An
overlooked but significant move was the bailout of Mexico after the
Mexican financial crisis of 1995.

As our neighbor and the largest market for American goods,
Mexico is vital to our economic health. If Clinton had allowed the
Mexican economy to go down the tubes, we would not have seen the
growth we did in the late ’90s. Clinton must be credited for
skillfully steering the economy, and if we continue his policy of
debt reduction to the point where of elimination, Americans will be
thanking him for years to come.

In 1992, the topic of international affairs was seen as a weak
spot for the Arkansas governor when pitted against a sitting
president, Bush, who had just won the Gulf War. However, Clinton
leaves office with an accomplished record. If a president is judged
not by wars won, but by those prevented, then Clinton will go down
as a great statesman. From Northern Ireland, to Palestine, to
Haiti, to Kosovo, the overriding themes of Clinton’s foreign
policy have been peace and humanitarianism. Time will tell if the
Good Friday Peace Accords and the Palestinian-Israeli agreements
will have an effect, but there is no doubt that Clinton played an
important role in bringing the parties together.

We cannot know what would have happened had the United States
not engaged in what Defense Secretary William Cohen called the most
successful military action in U.S. history in the Balkans. We do
know that genocide was halted, Milosevic is out of power, and
conflict did not spread to the rest of Europe. Critics attack
Clinton’s foreign policy record, but such criticism is
undermined by both worldwide respect for Clinton and eight years of
peace.

Perhaps the most intangible, albeit important, aspect of
Clinton’s tenure in office is race relations. The civil
rights laws of the 1960s finally made all Americans equal in the
eyes of the law. Clinton has worked more than any president to make
all Americans equal in each other’s eyes. This is his
passion, and is reflected in Toni Morrison’s statement that
Clinton is America’s first African American president. For
the first time, many minorities felt that they truly had a friend
in the White House.

As our country becomes more and more diverse in the years to
come, this model of leadership will become more and more
important.

History defines great presidents by circumstances. Abraham
Lincoln had the Civil War. Franklin Roosevelt had both the
Depression and World War II. Fortunately, we have not faced any
such national tragedies during Clinton’s eight years in
office. As such, Clinton may go down in history with the likes of
Dwight Eisenhower, who led America for eight relatively prosperous
and peaceful years in the 1950s. His presidency was overshadowed by
World War II and Korea on one end, and Civil Rights and Vietnam on
the other.

Clinton has also led the country through eight years of
“uneventful” peace and prosperity. But something tells
me that he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and that the
famed Clinton persona will keep his name and accomplishments alive
and well for many years to come.