Bill Clinton: When ex-presidents attack

last updated 8 January 2015

“Hillary Clinton may be the spouse running for office,” said Patrick Healy in The New York Times, but lately, it’s Bill Clinton who seems to be generating the most heat. Whether bitterly complaining that the media is unfair to Hillary, or kicking up a storm by accusing Barack Obama of concocting a “fairy tale” around his opposition to the war in Iraq, Clinton lately has been driving the media narrative of the Democratic presidential race. That’s not necessarily good news for Hillary. His “outbursts” can push the campaign off-message and make the story of the day the latest maneuverings of the first president in history to try returning to the White House as first spouse. Many Democratic leaders are not amused, said Jonathan Alter in Newsweek. Concerned that Bill’s attack-dog role is “inappropriate for a former president and the titular head of the Democratic Party,” party elders such as Ted Kennedy have urged him to “pipe down.”

That’s not likely to happen, said Dick Morris in the New York Post. Clinton’s behavior may seem outlandish, but it’s actually brilliant politics. Since he’s not the candidate, Bill can say the nasty things that Hillary can’t. At the same time, because he is Bill Clinton, his comments are given far more attention than those of any other surrogate in any campaign. “The other method behind his madness” is that by sucking up all the oxygen in the room, there is less left over for Obama and John Edwards. It’s as if the press must cover four Democratic candidates—and two of them are Clintons. And let’s not forget that it was after Bill started playing hardball that Hillary turned things around in New Hampshire and won in Nevada, too.

But Clinton is paying a heavy price for his antics, said The New Republic in an editorial. Before assuming his current role as Hillary’s pit bull, he was on track to becoming one of the best ex-presidents in recent history. Through his namesake foundation, he’s done valuable work on important issues such as economic development, climate change, and AIDS. He’s also gone a long way toward erasing the stigma he still bears from his impeachment and his sordid affair with Monica Lewinsky. But now, his surliness on the campaign trail threatens to overshadow his reputation as a statesman eager to serve “the common good.” If Clinton “spends the coming months pounding away at Obama, and in ugly ways,” he risks losing his hard-won, “post-presidential luster and dignity.” Instead, he’ll be “just another pol.”