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PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1993 Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 2 years and finding a lot to praise in his performance. Will the same happen to President Bush? At first, he too took November‘s verdiet personally. You could read hurt on his face. But he didn‘t retreat. He was a pretty active president in the last weeks of his term. Even Mrs. Bush won the "good manners" award of the year for the gracious way she acted in her treatment toward Hilary Clinton. = All of this is a lesson for Mr. Clinton. It is not easy to be a distinâ€" guished president. History has shown that very few cccupants of the White House turn out to be successful. But who knows? Ounly time will tell and history will judge. Even many democrats came to consider Carter a failure as a presâ€" are already marking him up as an "accident" â€" someone who used his acting ability to attract people to his side, regardless of his perâ€" formance in office. According to this assessment, the country sufâ€" fered from this lazy, inattentive president. Mr. Reagan‘s defense buildup brought about the first major meltâ€" ing of the cold war, forcing Soviet leaders to conclude they simply couldn‘t keep up the arms race and had to attend to economic probâ€" lems at home. Whatever history does with Reagan, and I think he will be upgraded from the low spot he seems to be headed toward now, I doubt he will be accounted a highly successful president. So there we have it: just FDR, Truman and Eisenhower as recent presidents who stay in the White House can be rated as "outstandâ€" ing". The worst indignity for a president is rejection by the voters. Some, like Mr. Carter, take defeat badly. He stayed out of sight until the inaugural; the few friends he saw got the impression he felt the world had turned against him. . o claimed it for him. He was an inspiring president. But he passed litâ€" tle legislation and had a fair degree of failure in his efforts. After that came Lyndon Johnson, who stained his otherwise sucâ€" cessful career as president by engulfing the United States in the Vietnam War. There is no need to discuss Richard Nixon. Whatever else he did was overshadowed by Watergate. Gerald Ford was able to bring back credibility to the presidency but the voters didn‘t want to keep him on. In a similar way, the voters fired Jimmy Carter and now they have done the same to George Bush. I think both deserved better In between, of course, was Ronald Reagan who will not rank very a duration to earn him a presidential ranking though some have Wilson, who steered Americans through World War L In the end, it devastated him. Then came Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge who, with their "don‘t shake the boat " attitudes, caused no waves. Next was Herâ€" bert Hoover who, I think, was better than he was accounted to be. But who can argue with history? Then, in succession, came three winners â€" Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. The first two are being ranked near the top of the best and more recent assessments of Eisenhower have moved him into the top fifth. s Next, Jack Kennedy lit up the sky. But his tenure was of too short When I think of it, there have not been many successful presiâ€" dents of the United States in this century. k Bill Clinton must be painfully aware of that fact now that he has taken office. He must surely know how very few occupants of the White House have distinguished themselves in their careers and, indeed, how very difficult it is to make a lasting impact. The very first president to make a mark in this century was Teddy Roosevelt. He was moderately successful. So was Woodrow A lesson for Clinton been with us for a while. LAE uie 1. fls '*‘ufi""&‘"‘ ul how m wrong target. me they focus on sions. A supplementary question: There are periodic calls for a longer school year but are we making real use of fund special interest groups? Why should organizations like the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) be nuzzled up to the public trough when a lot of worthy groups don‘t get a dime from government but raise their money from the folks they represent? Government handouts have turned some pressure groups into more or less a business. Their business is Class Warfare: Why has so much serious teacherâ€" bashing suddenly erupted? Surely it isn‘t because of The local media seems to believe that nothing sucâ€" ceeds like excess and it‘s fortunate they don‘t have to cope with the unsolved Jack the Ripper case. That would give them media apoplexy every day. Dial Tone: Why are wrong numbers never busy? On the Dotted Line: How can.anyone sign a petiâ€" tion against a drug prosecutor who has been only doing his job in informing the community of the sources of a problem? It seems to me the epithet "racist" is most often the response when someone presents indisputable eviâ€" dence that some newcomers to Canada aren‘t overâ€" whelmingly worthy of being nominated Citizen of the This may shock you but some folks think I‘m a knowâ€"itâ€"all, that these columns profess an omniâ€" science that would prod the writers of letters to the editor. Heaven forbid. I‘m too old to know everything. Lots of things puzzle me, leave me confused, and herewith a sampling: Wallowing in Blood: The Ontario Glove slayings, yet another example of a disgruntled employee returning to kill, were tragic in so many ways. . The murders and subsequent trail merited signifiâ€" cant media coverage and they got that and a lot more. Surprisingly, the conviction and sentencing of Patrick Dombroskie didn‘t end it. The stories went on. Things that make me go. y Day: Why do our governments wmwupum,..;wmu § The Fairway Group Incorporated _ mhirnyld.s, *3 = Kitchener, Ont. m fluvhndmwlmmm“m# the views of the newspaper. A~ 3 Me €y We it e in tivanc ie t nn t mn i w ht en 4 020. m ons on ie h fotat "I‘m on A EIxED wet WWren / was in GoVi \ FIxED i7 s0 1GoT 4 By the way, there‘s one thing you can say about those smaller apartments: You have no room for comâ€" For the Record: How can you explain the appeal WGNE&QGMM,:WM?& been responsible for more silliness than the invention d’ifl;lonaut thr"pwke the tugâ€"ofâ€"war, arge > biggest orchestra, and so on. All feats of remarkably ’l‘hey‘reworkinghtherm”' nt. â€" Nipped in the Aside from a few smarmy sportscasters and sportswriters, have you ever heard anyone refer to the Toronto Maple Leafs as "the buds?" And, pray tell, what sense does it make? By the way, am I alone in thinking that skinny, m-bafiaed’ DougGihnan-kfl\afipspflbuyfor Flat Chance: How.much has the Kâ€"W population dd‘nm «2294 There hasn‘t been much apartment construction of late and judging by the vacancy rate, a significant bring the parades of the youngsters to the nearest park. Timeâ€"filling, you could call it. . .Sfill,lmustanwbthnflmmwnteach- ple,whatcolormflym‘fi&fllflnmdwind? ‘The sun rose and the wind blue. _ _ Exodus Revisited: I wonder how many folks are leaving Ontario because of Floyd Laughren and his budgets. I know a couple who‘re leaving and scads seem to be talking of it. * The problem with any kind of exodus is that it always includes the best and brightest. Alas, the NDPers would all remain. Most of them have to: PENSION w my 408 +992 30 y AGe T 3X MZ, NBE t fooke : L e