I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but at about 12:30 tonight C-SPAN decided to re-air Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration.
You know, back in 1993 I didn't care much for Mr. Clinton. And granted, I still take issue with some of the things he did in office. Forcing NAFTA down our throats was a big one, as was his decision to follow the script of "Wag The Dog" to the letter by lobbing missiles into Afghanistan to divert our attention from a particularly messy little sex scandal here at home.
Yet, a strange thing happened while I was sitting there watching an oddly young-looking Clinton and Gore on that podium....
I actually grew nostalgic.
For all his flaws, Mr. Clinton actually managed to run a budget surplus for the first time in decades. We were never attacked on our own soil while he was in office. We weren't off fighting meaningless wars in dusty little third-world backwaters that posed no threat to us. He actually TRIED to enact a universal healthcare system. He did more than just pay lip service to environmental protection. "Civil rights" still meant something. Our election system wasn't the butt of the world's jokes, and we were still somewhat respected and admired in the international community. And he managed to do all this with the Republicans in control of both houses of Congress for most of his two terms.
Who ever thought we'd be looking back at Slick Willie's reign as "the good old days?" Hey, nobody died when MY President lied.
Maybe that explains why I keep having that dream where I'm married to Chelsea Clinton...
You know, back in 1993 I didn't care much for Mr. Clinton. And granted, I still take issue with some of the things he did in office. Forcing NAFTA down our throats was a big one, as was his decision to follow the script of "Wag The Dog" to the letter by lobbing missiles into Afghanistan to divert our attention from a particularly messy little sex scandal here at home.
Yet, a strange thing happened while I was sitting there watching an oddly young-looking Clinton and Gore on that podium....
I actually grew nostalgic.
For all his flaws, Mr. Clinton actually managed to run a budget surplus for the first time in decades. We were never attacked on our own soil while he was in office. We weren't off fighting meaningless wars in dusty little third-world backwaters that posed no threat to us. He actually TRIED to enact a universal healthcare system. He did more than just pay lip service to environmental protection. "Civil rights" still meant something. Our election system wasn't the butt of the world's jokes, and we were still somewhat respected and admired in the international community. And he managed to do all this with the Republicans in control of both houses of Congress for most of his two terms.
Who ever thought we'd be looking back at Slick Willie's reign as "the good old days?" Hey, nobody died when MY President lied.
Maybe that explains why I keep having that dream where I'm married to Chelsea Clinton...
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I get nostalgic for the way of the nineties too. Whatever seemed bad then, doesn't seem like a piss in the well now.
Hope all is going well for you. Keep your chin up.
I'll be back in a week or so.