I think it's time somebody put in a good word for President Clinton over Haiti.

I was coming out of a meeting that Sunday night when our troops went into Haiti, and I heard about what happened on my car radio on the way home. I got shivers up my spine, and my heart swelled up, and I said ''Yes, that's exactly the way it should have happened. That's what America is all about.''

Yes, I know it could have just as easily had a different outcome, but the bottom line is that it had the perfect outcome. And I can't help but think there was some guiding force out there saying, ''OK folks, I'm going to show you how it works when you do the right thing for the right reasons.''

Talk about drama. Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell and Sam Nunn, the perfect triumvirate, on the ground. The brain that sent those three people into that situation was brilliant.

We had a man who had held the highest elected office in the country, a man who had held the highest military office in the country, and a leader in Congress who could tell a dictator to his face that Congress would be behind its president.

The fighter planes in the air. The three men trying to deal with a dictator who is busy deciding between saving face and saving his own life. Jimmy Carter, understanding General Cedras' extreme pride, saying what needed to be said to get the job done, gracefully, and doing so under more pressures of time and diplomacy running out than you and I will ever be able to imagine. What happened in Haiti was a textbook case of what democracy is all about.

We went into Haiti to restore democracy, and we did it without a shot being fired by or at our troops. It doesn't get any better than that, folks.

Our actions in Haiti will go down as one of the most remarkable triumphs of foreign policy in the defense of democracy that any president has accomplished since World War II.

I am so proud to have a president who did the right thing for the right reasons. Unselfishly, in the interest of democracy and world peace. And we have every right to be darn proud of our troops in that situation, shifting gears literally in mid-air, with grace and honor, and restoring peace and democracy to a country that has not had enough of either in its troubled history.

Yet what is upsetting to me is knowing that people refuse to give President Clinton credit simply because he is a Democrat. I for one am darn tired of that attitude.

We have a cynicism in this country that is so pervasive that we can't even rejoice when something goes right.

I'm tired of the ''I'll get mine and the hell with the rest of you'' attitude that has embedded itself in this country. I'm tired of the knee-jerk reactions, all the labels that we can't seem to see past, that obstruct our view of what is really going on, particularly the good stuff that is happening.

You know, America used to be all about standing up for freedom and democracy here and abroad. I don't know exactly when things changed, but it has not been for the better. People keep saying we should stay out of international matters unless our own interests are at stake. And while I agree with that on some levels, I don't know when, or why, national interests started being defined only in terms of money or oil.

There are those who keep saying that we had no national interests in Haiti, but we have all kinds of national interests in Kuwait. When President Bush sent troops into the Gulf, reasons of high ideals were sounded, at first. We were protecting democracy in Kuwait – except that Kuwait is not a democracy, and its treatment of women is literally from the middle ages.

Shamefacedly, after it was all over, people admitted it was about oil. We sent our troops to fight and die for oil. And the mothers and fathers with children in the military cringed. My kid's life on the line in exchange for cheap gasoline? Wait just a minute, here.

Now, you'll notice, Rush Limbaugh is turning that around. This time, with troops again in the Persian Gulf, Rush is not only saying of course it's about oil, but he goes so far as to say that's good.

Yes, this country runs on oil. It is our Achilles heel. Our drug of choice. Just like an addict, we need that black needle in our arm to keep going. As long as we are so addicted to that non-renewable resource – which some analysts predict will run out within our or our kids' lifetimes – we will be vulnerable to those types of conflicts. We are now willing to kill and be killed to support our habit.

I would feel better about our troops being in the Persian Gulf again if there were a balancing push at home to kick the habit. We should have a national energy policy that looks to the future, to renewable sources of energy, to solar and wind power, to energy efficient transportation and buildings, to a time when we will be able to ''just say 'no' '' to that black liquid.

It is in our national interests, and in the interests of freedom and democracy around the world, for us to do that. But it will take all of us, pushing hard uphill and against the powerful forces who make their astounding fortunes by dealing in oil, to get there. I know we can do it. This is, after all, America. We do great things here. We just have to decide it's the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, if you don't mind, I will spend some quality time being proud to be an American for our actions in Haiti, and being proud to have a president who sees democracy anywhere in the world as one of our national interests.

Gosh, that feels good.