[campbellcj]

I think the big difference under "Slick Willie" is simply that we generally didn't think about the Government as much as we do now -- it's become an almost full-time obsession lately for cryin out loud.

And THAT is because Clinton was too busy entertaining the public with his extracurricular activities. To me, the Clinton era did seem like a pretty benign regime where nothing particularly good OR bad really happened. In fact, I am clearly no political historian, but it is very hard for me to recall anything significant that he actually "DID" while in office.

For better or worse, we all know that Dubya at least "DID" something during his first term.

Personally I agree with Tabs on several points, including the generalization that any single US leadership regime tends to effect little if any long-term, meaningful change. It is kind of sad, but our system is now too massive, too divided, and too risk-averse to accomplish much over a FOUR year period.

Any corporate management team in the private sector who accomplished as little as our political leadership would be canned in the first quarter or two!