Saturday, October 21, 2006
"Clinton in fact did nothing ... "
I just finished reading Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and Worst in the White House. In this impressive work, published by the Wall Street Journal, an ideologically balanced group of 132 prominent academics rates each and every former President of the United States. Historian Paul Johnson was chosen to limn Bill Clinton, and he does so with keen insight. To wit:
"[Economically,] Clinton in fact did nothing. It was not so much masterly inactivity as mistressly inactivity, [which] had one outstanding virtue. It turned the Clinton years into one of the longest periods of laissez-faire in U.S. history. If Clinton had been a continent man, and so with time to be an activist president, the consequences would almost certainly have been disastrous for the American economy. As it was, with the president busy elsewhere, the nation thrived mightily, as always when the White House does nothing."
Well stated, Dr. Johnson.
"[Economically,] Clinton in fact did nothing. It was not so much masterly inactivity as mistressly inactivity, [which] had one outstanding virtue. It turned the Clinton years into one of the longest periods of laissez-faire in U.S. history. If Clinton had been a continent man, and so with time to be an activist president, the consequences would almost certainly have been disastrous for the American economy. As it was, with the president busy elsewhere, the nation thrived mightily, as always when the White House does nothing."
Well stated, Dr. Johnson.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, October 21, 2006 
