What's good for Clinton gander is good for goose (W calls Bill "My new brother")

Reuters ^ | Mon Jan 30, 2006 | Ellen Wulfhorst

[presidio9]

Former president Bill Clinton has been buddying up to both presidents Bush in what strategists right and left view as a bid to salvage his political legacy and boost the ambitions of his senator wife.

"My new brother" is what Republican President George W. Bush called Clinton, a Democrat, in a weekend interview.

At the president's request, Clinton has lined up with Bush's father, the Republican he ousted from the presidency 13 years ago, to help victims of the 2004 tsunami in Asia and the 2005 hurricane in the southern United States.

"Clinton beat a Bush, then was replaced by a Bush who may be replaced by a Clinton," said pollster Lee Miringoff. "The whole thing has gotten very complicated."

While making peace with rivals is a post-presidential tradition along with good deeds, Clinton stands to help himself and his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, say experts on both sides of the political aisle.

The former first lady, 58, is considered a strong contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

"It's definitely to help his wife, and it's certainly to rebuild his legacy which was basically left in shambles by the time he left the White House," said Alexandra Preate of Republican political strategists Political Capital LLC.

"Her becoming president helps his rebuilding of his own name and reputation, it increases his value financially and it continues their power base inside the Democratic Party."

EX-PRESIDENTS' CLUB

Speaking to "Face the Nation" on CBS, Bush, 59, commented on the time his father, 81, was spending with Clinton, also 59. He called Clinton "my new brother" and spoke of the "kinship" of the "ex-presidents' club."

That four-member club, including former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, is so exclusive that it cannot help but bring together former political combatants.

"Ex-presidents need to hang around with one another," said Douglas Muzzio, professor of public affairs at Baruch College, part of The City University of New York. "Who are their peers? Nobody's experienced what they've experienced."

Asked for comment on being called the president's brother, Clinton answered through a spokesman with the moniker "42" as he was the nation's 42nd president.

" President Clinton -- or for the sake of clarity '42' -- believes that issues like the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and his AIDS work transcend party and politics, and he has appreciated the opportunity to work closely with his good friend and partner 41," the spokesman said. "And he's appreciated 43 reaching out to them on these issues."

But plenty of what Clinton has been up to has to do with a tattered legacy, Muzzio said.

Clinton was plagued by a sex scandal with a White House intern which led to his impeachment. His controversial list of presidential pardons at the end of his eight years in office caused further political uproar.

"There's got to be a little bit of redemption there. He knows he screwed up," Muzzio said.

Bush's conciliatory tone may be hard for some conservatives to take, said conservative strategist Nelson Warfield.

"In a time of war and in the interest of national unity, maybe President Bush feels compelled to make nice with his perjurist predecessor," he said, adding: "Most Republicans made up their minds about Bill Clinton a long time ago."

Clinton still draws a crowd, and there's little doubt his popularity won't harm the New York senator's political future.

"He will do nothing that will harm his wife's political prospects and will do much to enhance and foster them," Muzzio said. "But does that mean that we have to look at every one of his acts through the prism of his wife's election? Let's not take it to be the only reality."

But Warfield warned against reading too much into the Bush-Clinton relationship, adding: "Remember, the royalty of Old Europe were blood relatives and that didn't stop them from trying to kill each other."

[Digger]

Amamzing! I would think there would be a great outrage over this. I am. I'm sick of this "Two-Party Cartel".

[cubreporter]

It's just hype...relax.