and people talk about the left's blind hatred of Bush...

He did write about just that a few mos. ago.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110101699.html

Personally, Krauthammer is my favorite columnist. He ain't a journalist, he's a commentator. Actually, he's an MD who got paralyzed in a diving accident after med. school and is now in a wheelchair. I've seen him around town a few times. He looks frail and weak in person, but cleans up well on tv. I have heard that he was once a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, but have been unable to confirm it. He is by no means dogmatically right wing. He's written a column in favor of slavery reparations, defending Joerg Haider (kind of strange for a Jew) and recently slammed Huckabee harshly in a column. That's why I like reading his stuff. You never know what you're gonna get.

Clinton's problem wasn't that he didn't have opportunities to distinguish himself, he chose not to.

When the Kobar towers and the Cole were bombed, when the marines were killed in Mogadishu, Clinton's reactions were incorrect. His actions should have been more along the lines of GWB's and maybe he could have prevented further aggression. So when the opportunity to create a legacy knocked on his door. He didn't answer.

When the Saudis said they had OBL, and he didn't take him, there was another opportunity.

However, he did do the right thing in Yugoslavia by sending troops and bombing there. Somehow though, it's not talked about much. It may be because he downplayed the use of force to appease the pacifists in his own party. Regardless, it helped the region and was the right choice. I don't think he gets enough credit for that, and part of me thinks he really didn't want credit for it. Which is odd.

Haiti is a toss up. We haven't seen massive emigration from there, but its still a nasty place too close to home.

I am not sure I think NAFTA was such a good deal for the USA. Sure, we can get cheaper goods, but at what cost?

So that's that, and Krauthammer rocks regardless of what you ninnies say. :D

I agree that time will tell in the case of all Presidents. My take (which I'm sure will offend many) based on my personal memories of each...

- Nixon went down in infamy for Watergate, but in retrospect this is generally balanced by substantially getting us out of Viet Nam, and starting the process of normalizing the relations with China -- something that has impact to this day. By no means the complete loser that many felt the day he left office. More a mixture of flawed greatness and greatly flawed.

- Gerald Ford: Pardons Nixon (everyone move on, nothing to see here...), pulls the last troops out of Viet Nam and the NVA and Viet Cong moved in. "WIN". Acknowledged by all to have been a genuinely "good guy". Did what he needed to do, but not flashy enough to get elected. Pretty much a perfect fit for what was asked of him.

- Jimmy Carter (who???) One of the smartest guys to hold the oval office. Nowadays he's remembered more for his post-presidential work with Habitats for Humanity -- which says a lot about both the man, and his term in office. Oh yeah, weren't the Iranian Hostages taken during his tenure, and the best that we could muster was a SNAFU in the desert. Oh yeah, and "Billygate"

- Ronald Reagan - After the one of the smartest presidents, we have one that was widely acknowledged as being one of the dimmest. He routinely took naps in the afternoon. He was reviled by the domestic opposition when in office. Let's see... Bombs Libya after the destruction of the Pan Am flight over Scotland and other offenses -- which is met with widespread outcry from Europe. The Iranian Hostages were released..."Mr. Gorbechev -- Take down this wall" ... redirected the domestic political landscape, Brings home most of the troops from Europe, drove the USSR into the ground... ("Missiles will be launched in 5 minutes"). He's now acknowledged as being one of the greatest presidents -- right up there with FDR.

- George H.W. Bush -- More of a Reagan follow-through. A smart guy, I believe genuinely a "good guy" also. Got to be there for the Berlin Wall coming down which I'm pretty sure he contributed greatly to during his time in the CIA. Beats the pants off of Saddam in Gulf War I, but stops short out of deference to our Arab allies and European opinion.

Bill Clinton -- I think that Krauthammer nailed it pretty good. I still remember that the first big "crisis" that he managed was gays in the Military which resulted in "Don't Ask -- Don't Tell". I remember thinking at the time -- is this the most important priority that he could be spending his political capital on right now???

George W. Bush -- After the one of the smartest presidents, we have one that was widely acknowledged as being one of the dimmest. He is reviled by the domestic opposition. Let's see... 9/11 -- Overseas the demise of the Taliban, Gulf War II and steamrolls the perennial "thorn in the side" Saddam Hussein. (Qaddafi quietly "sees the light and gets on-side with the rest of the world"), initiates "No Child Left Behind" which puts some real back bone in the national school curriculum.

Just my $0.02...

Which is why I read his stuff...he is not dogmatic in the least, should one care to actually do some probing beyond asdfjkl;