Clinton to the rescue: Americans look for and maybe find relief [Archives:2003/672/Opinion]

Hassan Al-Haifi
It is understandable that Mr. William Clinton, former President of the United States, who was sandwiched between the two Bush administrations, should rightfully not stand idle while watching the legacy he left behind shattered by a bunch of neo-conservative iconoclasts, who stood for nothing that Americans truly value and who destroyed achievements that brought America to the zenith of its power. Needless to say one could not forget how the Clinton Administration planted much hope and faith that America was going to lead the world in the pursuit of peace and the prevalence of common social welfare over greed and disguised tyranny in the form of a Pax Americana, that if allowed to continue would lead to the displacement of the US from its true place in the international community and to what God knows what luminous dangers that such neo-con thinking could give rise to.
Enter Wellesley Clark in the US Democratic Presidential Primary in the last few legs of the US Democratic Party Candidacy Race, to surely show the Clinton successors that indeed Mr. Clinton is far from being finished as an important shaper of political fortune not only for himself, but for others who share his more idealistic perceptions of the role that America should play in the world. It is worth noting that these ungracious successors sought unjustly to downplay and even discredit Mr. Clinton's magnificent achievements domestically and internationally. However the quick grasp that Mr. Clark has managed to get a hold of in the candidacy race surely indicates that the American people were ready for a change from the monstrosity of calamities brought on by the Bush Administration' neo conservative team of hate mongers and neo-imperialists (as the Malaysian Prime Minister aptly suggested). With this change being inspired and backed by the legendary Mr. Clinton, the American people could only see good coming out of it, because simply put, Mr. Clinton's Presidency not only produced good achievements domestically for the United States, but in the international arena as well.
This observer and many political analysts in the US and the international community could not help but point out that the second Bush Administration, even in its earlier days was orienting the US into a dangerous course that threatens the stability of the world and destroys any hopes that indeed the US can be entrusted with world leadership towards international harmony and cohesion. One need not delve into all the calamities that the Bush Administration brought along almost from the start of taking the helms. But it is significant to take note of the latest United Nations General Assembly session to see the poor showing made by the US, as most nations made it clear that the present status quo was both unbearable and dangerous to the peace world leaders hope to implant in the world. It seemed obvious to most that the Bush Administration has not matured from its debacles and was insistent in pursuing its closed eyes attitude towards not only handling domestic affairs, but in dealing with a world that is characterized by so much diversity of interests and beset by so many problems.
We congratulate the American people in the apparent rejection of this dog-eat-dog vision of the world, conveyed by the Bush Administration and his neo-conservatives, who were approaching neo-fascist dimensions, as perceived by so many observers. Needless to say, this observer and many people overseas, who never lost faith in the American people's ability to distinguish evil from right and demonic interests from the over-all social and economic welfare of the American people and the world at large. Moreover, the United States surely had not become lacking in people, who had far greater expanse of visions than the obvious narrow-minded inclinations aspired to by Mr. Bush and his evil team of power exploiters. Throughout these past three years, this observer was in touch with many Americans, who never let us feel that all hope is lost forever in America. The forefathers of that great nation were far more clever than to leave the United States without any avenues of hope, in case evil manages to get the upper hand for a while. There are just too many institutional frameworks that stand to challenge any deviations from the visions that these forefathers had for America. They came to the forefront before whenever America seemed on the wrong direction and it seems that they are rising again to put an end to a fruitless period of economic and social stagnation and political bankruptcy brought on by some textbook political aspirants, who felt that they can run the United States and steer the rest of the world in their enclosed offices, with their eyes blind to the realities of not only the rest of the world but even their own nation.
If anything, the rapid rise that Wellesley Clark has shown in his strong drive for the Presidency, though belated in its inauguration, reveals that Americans were yearning for a change that really made sense and that spoke bravely against the delirious status quo that these neo-conservatives were insistent on maintaining, with their public be damned attitude, which they mistakenly thought they can drag on for another four years. They were wrong, as they have been wrong in just about all their pursuits over the last three years or so.
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