But this time he meant it. On every measure, the United States is roaring ahead. Its stock market surges, while unemployment is at its lowest since 1957. Interest rates are down, wages are up, and budget surpluses are projected for the next 20 years. Violent crime is lower than it's been for 25 years, murder rarer than it's been since 1967.
Teen pregnancies are down, so are infant deaths.
People are safer, richer and live in a cleaner environment. It's a great record, but Bill Clinton was not content to rest on it. In an act of sheer political chutzpah the President unveiled what aides described as an 'incredibly ambitious programme'. In the penultimate year of his term, and already impeached by the House, he refuses nevertheless to be a lame-duck. Clinton even dared suggesting new ideas on healthcare - the very policy which led to such disaster in his first term and which he's avoided ever since.