"I believe two terms of the Clinton administration were very good for our country," Mrs. Clinton said during a conference call with reporters, adding, "I'm deeply concerned that within a space of a year we seem to have done a U-turn."

Sen. Clinton complained that the U.S. has gone downhill since Bush took over.

"Many of us believe the country was in the right condition when President Clinton left us and that we should have built on those successes instead of turning back the clock."

She also claimed that the U.S. was "richer and safer and smarter and stronger" with her husband at the helm but now those achievements have been "eliminated or reversed in the space of a year."

The harsh assessment from the country's most celebrated elected Democrat comes just two days after her husband gathered top aides with his former administration to devise a strategy to rehabilitate his tattered image.

After being impeached in 1998 for lying under oath in response to allegations of sexual harassment, being accused of sexual assault and even forcible rape, Mr. Clinton's image has been further battered by new charges that he was soft on terror kingpin Osama bin Laden.