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In 1992, Bill Clinton ran on a platform of 'ending welfare as we know it.' His political worldview, drawn from like-minded thinkers at the Democratic Leadership Council, was based in private sector growth and personal responsibility.

Some people think that welfare reform should have hurt Bill Clinton with black voters.

After two years of fighting, government shutdowns and little to no agreement on anything except welfare reform in 1996, President Clinton was re-elected and decided it was time for compromise.

Clinton was a president who used his office, in creative ways, to try to reinvigorate the federal government to benefit the majority.

If it were the Clinton people, they'd be sitting around figuring out how to pull themselves out. Instead the president is continuing to go around the country and peddling Social Security, which the needle is not moving on.

Bill Clinton worked with a Republican Congress. They certainly had their differences on many issues, but look at what they also accomplished. Welfare reform - that was maybe the most significant social policy achievement in two generations.

But I think what happened was that Clinton knew how to fight back. And the way he fought back was on the issues - being tough in staying on the things that mattered to people in their lives.

In 1996, Republicans used reconciliation to pass major legislation that ended six decades of welfare policy.

Clinton's successor in the White House, George W. Bush, was committed to expanding government spending for faith-based initiatives.

Throughout his presidency, Clinton made a point of getting close - physically and emotionally - to the people whose problems his administration was working to solve.