David Ho: Clinton Returns To Center Stage
Bill Clinton's summit of world leaders and tycoons is the latest chapter of his increasingly public return to the world stage with a post-White House career political scholars call unique in American history.
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Unlike many other former presidents, who returned to private life or only slowly crept back into the spotlight, Clinton has traveled the world in the last year to help tsunami victims and support his personal foundation's efforts to combat HIV in places like Africa and India.
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Clinton's activity has spawned speculation about whether he is repairing a legacy haunted by impeachment or wants to bolster an already hard-to-top resume with an unlikely new job title: leader of the United Nations.
Clinton's interest in being a central figure in global affairs is reflected by his summit guest list, which included British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and media mogul Ted Turner.
The potential presidential candidacy of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y), also helps keep him at center stage.
"Bill Clinton really wants to continue to have real power and influence, and certainly, with Hillary's presence and this initiative and others, he may indeed have it," said Thomas Alan Schwartz, a presidential historian at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "He may continue to be a very important figure."
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Clinton's biggest complication as he tries to refine his legacy is his wife, Sabato said. Because she might run for president in 2008, he has limitations unprecedented for an ex-president.
These unique constraints may be responsible for what Princeton University presidential historian Fred Greenstein calls the unsettled image of Clinton's post-presidency.
"It's scattered and hasn't had a clearly defined focus," Greenstein said. "It would be a wonderful thing if somehow --- out of what is certainly not one of the great presidencies of all time --- if he did a very interesting and constructive ex-presidency."
...
Unlike many other former presidents, who returned to private life or only slowly crept back into the spotlight, Clinton has traveled the world in the last year to help tsunami victims and support his personal foundation's efforts to combat HIV in places like Africa and India.
...
Clinton's activity has spawned speculation about whether he is repairing a legacy haunted by impeachment or wants to bolster an already hard-to-top resume with an unlikely new job title: leader of the United Nations.
Clinton's interest in being a central figure in global affairs is reflected by his summit guest list, which included British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and media mogul Ted Turner.
The potential presidential candidacy of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y), also helps keep him at center stage.
"Bill Clinton really wants to continue to have real power and influence, and certainly, with Hillary's presence and this initiative and others, he may indeed have it," said Thomas Alan Schwartz, a presidential historian at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "He may continue to be a very important figure."
...
Clinton's biggest complication as he tries to refine his legacy is his wife, Sabato said. Because she might run for president in 2008, he has limitations unprecedented for an ex-president.
These unique constraints may be responsible for what Princeton University presidential historian Fred Greenstein calls the unsettled image of Clinton's post-presidency.
"It's scattered and hasn't had a clearly defined focus," Greenstein said. "It would be a wonderful thing if somehow --- out of what is certainly not one of the great presidencies of all time --- if he did a very interesting and constructive ex-presidency."