Posted on 10/15/2001 8:12:27 PM PDT by Howlin
On Bill Clinton's desk at his Harlem office, there are nearly 100 missing flyers, sorrowful mementos of his handshaking visits to ground zero and to the family-crisis center. He can't bring himself to file them away, an aide says, so they sit there, a reminder of the horrendous loss of life -- and of his inability to either prevent it or do much to heal the wounds.
The World Trade Center attacks have catapulted the former president -- who was just starting to mellow out and revel in his post-Oval Office life as a New Yorker, senatorial spouse, and money-making private citizen -- into the unfamiliar and frustrating role of action figure in search of action.
"Clinton misses the work, sitting and making the hard decisions, having these smart people around him," says Joe Lockhart, the former White House spokesman. "It's a new experience for him, not being in the middle of it."
Interviews with nearly a dozen Clinton confidants reveal a man struggling to find a way to be useful and worrying that his peace-and-prosperity presidency will be recast as a footnote to the Bush-family dynasty. Right after the attacks, Clinton admitted to a friend that he wished, for the first time, to be back in the White House. And he couldn't resist bitterly telling an ally that if the FBI had spent as much time chasing terrorists as it had investigating his behavior, perhaps things would have played out differently.
Yet if he has any I-could-handle-this-crisis-better thoughts, he's keeping them to himself; in speeches and in numerous conversations with friends, Clinton has made a point of supporting Bush. "He knows his role is trying to provide comfort in New York City, and to add his voice in support of President Bush," says John Podesta, Clinton's former chief of staff. The feeling may not be mutual. Condoleezza Rice briefed Clinton early in the crisis, but a former aide says the exchange was "not rich in detail."
At least he can still get back-channel information. As Sidney Blumenthal, Clinton's White House spinmeister, puts it, "He and Tony Blair are good friends. And he talks to world leaders who seek him out."
While there have been rumors that Clinton and Giuliani might co-chair a commission to rebuild downtown, his aides say he seems more likely to use his bully pulpit and play national hand-holder. Nevertheless, being on the sidelines has become perhaps the toughest challenge of his career.
God works in mysterious ways.
It's always about HIM, isn't it? And it's always somebody else's fault.
Oh, God, I love this guy! He's going to be around for the next several decades, making a complete ass of himself, saying hilariously fatuous things like this! The fact that he's not president any more is one of the joys of my life; now instead of dreading his egotistical, amoral idiocy, I can delight in it for years to come.
I can't wait to read his book.
And I bet Tony Blair doesn't give him the time of day. Tony is suddenly transformed into Churchill, and he wants to hang with President Bush, the REAL president!!
Did you catch that little bit about how it's all our fault because the FBI was too busy investigating HIM to catch terrorists?
As usual, all about HIM!!
go cry a river in afghanistan...they can use some water. just don't cry any crocodile tears.
Notice (again) how unrepentant, arrogant, and self-centered he is? If he continues like this, he will die young - bitter, penniless, and ugly. Oh wait....he's already there.
I don't seem to remember Gerald Ford, Richard Nixton, Ronald Reagan or even Jimmy Carter whining about not being POTUS anymore.
Why do I get the feeling that the aforementioned "world leaders" aren't exactly ringing Bubba's phone off the hook? Sound to me like none of them will take HIS calls!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.