By Owen Paine on Monday January 23, 2006 02:12 PM
Picked up my old dog-eared copy of Paradise Lost today,
and out fell this yellowed, brittle newspaper clipping, from the
New York Times, judging by the typeface:
"Bill Clinton pressed on [in pursuit of the NAFTA], growing more rather than less committed as the days passed. Abandoned by two of the three top Democratic leaders in the House, opposed by usually reliable Democrats in the trade unions and by some important leaders of minority groups and environmental organizations, he kept shoving more and more chips into the pot on an issue that few Americans really understood... It was the most important achievement of his Presidency... Mr. Clinton retreated early on Bosnia, on Haiti, on homosexuals in the military, on important elements of his economic plan; he seemed ready to compromise on all but the most basic provisions of his health-care reforms. Critics started asking whether he had a bottom line on anything. On the trade accord, he did, and that question won't be asked much for a while [after] the President's smashing success...free trade would not be quite so free as it might have been, but more walls came down this week than went up...at least Mr. Clinton has gained credibility, through his tenacity on the trade pact, that will help him in the months ahead. 'This is a great victory,' said Robert S. Strauss, the longtime Democratic power broker."No working familly tax cut, no single-payer health plan -- but NAFTA, that's worth fightin' the good fight.
