The 1997 murder rate is the lowest in three decades. Other indicators provide the same message. Teenage births are falling, especially among black teenagers. Infant mortality is the lowest ever. Welfare rolls are down, and not merely because of changed definitions.
Life expectancy is up.
There are other trends, of course, that point in gloomier and potentially destructive directions. And a lot of the good news has nothing at all to do with Mr Clinton. But it's happening 'on his watch', as Americans say. They are giving him the credit, whether he deserves it or not. Mr Clinton, not surprisingly, is gorging on it while he can.