>I agree with much of this. It indeed would be hard to praise clinton for the economical situation in this respect. You're right that he ride the waive. OTOH, I don't think he made major wrong decisions economically and did a decent job in the global overview (at least in terms of forgeign politics). We have seen this in our country as well and if you think of it, it is perfectly explainable.

No win situation here with foreign policy. If we do as Clinton did, it tends to be viewed as "yeah, he's popular with foreign countries but only because he doesn't *do* anything but follow everyone else's lead" and if we do as Reagan/the Bushes it's "how dare we pretend we're speak and act for the world"

>I totally agree with the cycle model. Yes, indeed, the US is very close to the realisation that it needs an overhoal in many respects because the system just does not work (anymore).

In this, you may be even more optimistic about the US than I. Can't speak for the Netherlands, but here the sublime just doesn't work. My theory is that it's gonna take something dramatic.