WSJ

BY JAMES TARANTO Tuesday, September 4, 2001 2:14 p.m. EDT

Happy Days Are Here Again Bill Clinton signs on as a celebrity "ambassador" for Britain's tourism industry. "Wherever I've visited in Britain, I've always received a warm and genuine welcome," Clinton says in his tribute. "In fact, I spent the happiest years of my life in Oxford and, with Chelsea studying there, it would be great to go back." Were these really Clinton's "happiest years"? He was at Oxford in 1968 to 1970, long before he became president, and while he was there he didn't even inhale. Then again, he hadn't yet met Hillary.

On the other hand, Clinton seems to be one happy camper; he uses the superlative often. Examples:

Feb. 27, 1980, the day Chelsea was born, was " the happiest one" in his life.

A 1971 visit to the Grand Canyon is "one of the happiest memories of my entire life."

Clinton is "someone who spent some of the happiest years of his life teaching in colleges and universities" (in Arkansas, not Britain).

Speaking of colleges and universities, New York magazine reports the ex-prez will lecture at New York University Law School this fall. "He also plans to speak at the London School of Economics and at Oxford." But Oxford professor Alan Ryan reports that in a dinner conversation with Clinton, "he made it quite clear he expects to make a colossal amount of money very fast. He said that Bush's tax cuts would be 'good for people who are as rich as I'm about to be.'" Just remember, Bill, money can't buy happiness.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001