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SALT LAKE CITY — When Bill Clinton left office in 2001, the role of a former president was to fade into the political background, wait until controversial policies had been forgotten or passed on and write memoirs that could "set the record straight."
With any luck, this course taken by so many of Clinton's predecessors may at least sway historians into accepting a similar point of view in the books they write for future generations. It may have seemed an especially logical path for Clinton, who left office having just survived impeachment and the public scrutiny that goes with it.
Unlike his predecessors, however, Clinton has taken a different approach to his retirement years. Instead of fading, Clinton remains a powerful, headline-grabbing political force. Maybe even more so than current president, Barack Obama.
Consider the events of just the last week:
Sunday brought news of back-to-back Obama fundraisers to be held next month. Both events will feature Clinton, with the high- dollar donors getting access to a photo reception.
Related:
Bill Clinton: Obama can argue he steadied economy
Former President Bill Clinton said he believes President Barack Obama can win re-election if he can persuade voters he steadied a shaky economy.By Tuesday, fundraiser plans were dwarfed by an author's claim that Clinton had referred to Obama as an "amateur" and had encouraged wife Hillary Clinton, an Obama cabinet member, to run against Obama in this year's primaries.
And then, of course, there were Mitt Romney's comments about the former president. "Almost a generation ago," he told a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, "Bill Clinton announced that the Era of Big Government was over. ... President Obama (has) tucked away the Clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisanship."
For politicians from rival parties, that's about as much of a compliment as you could get.
That's not all, either. Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh was talking about Clinton this week, even going so far as to say that Clinton was "exactly right" on taxes. Other news coverage featured Clinton's opinions on the budget, entitlements, debt and deficits and even a revisiting of Clinton's 2011 suggestion that a former president should be able to run for a third, nonconsecutive term for office.
So far, the possibility of a third presidential term remains remote at best. That hasn't slowed the pace of the former president, however, who continues to campaign with the frequency, vigor and media attention of an actual candidate.
As for Romney's compliments of the former president, Clinton's response wasn't quite as flattering. “I feel a lot of sympathy for (Romney),” Clinton said. “The whole primary was about finding somebody who was true conservative, but they're going to vote for him anyway.”
Dallin Kimble is a master's student in public administration and urban management at Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in economics from BYU. His articles have been published by KSL, Yahoo, Deseret News, Examiner.com and others.
