Honoring Clinton's legacy

As former President Bill Clinton dedicated his presidential library Thursday in Little Rock, Ark., IU students reflected on the leader's legacy.\n"He's definitely a very historical President," said senior Joel Miller, who founded an online pro-Clinton community called "Bill Clinton Rocks my Socks." "A lot of things happened under his regime. If Reagan can have a library, Clinton certainly can. Clinton was a much better president than Reagan was."\nIt has become a tradition for former presidents to have libraries or similar facilities established in their name. The Presidential Library system is made up of 11 libraries and the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff, according to the National Archives and Records Administration Web site.\nBut sophomore Stephen Lawson, who ranked Clinton 35 out of 43 presidents, said Clinton's foreign policy left much to be desired from a commander in chief. \n"I just don't think he had much resolve," Lawson said. "He was not firm. He was more looking to appease people rather than to represent the United States and represent the people who voted for him."\nLawson also called Clinton a "poll-watcher," saying the Democrat's affinity for public support moved him to please the public by any means.\n"He reminds me of a friendlier John Kerry, by going whichever way the wind will blow," he said.\nBut senior Ashish Thaker, a member of Miller's internet community, said Clinton's popularity was due to polished speaking skills, not poll-watching.\n"He was a good leader and a good public speaker," Thaker said. "Listen to any speech from Clinton, then compare it to Bush. Wasn't it nice to have a president who could speak the English language and represent the country in a nice way?"\nThaker, who ranked Clinton the fourth-greatest American president, said Clinton will be remembered for his role in peace-making and his economic leadership.\n"You can't say the economic boom we had in the (1990s) was because of the president, but I think it's fair to say Clinton fanned the fire of the economic boom."\nBut Lawson said the economic success of the last decade was due to the two previous Republican presidents. \n"I don't like how (Clinton) was able to ride the wave of the economic proposals of Reagan and Bush," he said.\nMiller, who said he would visit the library sometime in the next 10 years, said the former president's sex scandal will be his ultimate legacy.\n"The Lewinsky scandal will play into his legacy," he said, "but you have to look at all the things he did."\nMiller explicitly named a balanced budget and record surplus as Clinton's true signature hallmark. \nWhile Lawson is an unabashed critic of Clinton's, he said the former president had some redeeming qualities.\n"I think that his foreign policy was weak," Lawson said. "But even in the face of the scandals, he was able to accomplish things at home."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.