Bill Clinton is not going away

Andrew Raff
January 22, 2001

Bill Clinton is not going away. Ever. Even though his term ended on Saturday and he rode Air Force One for the last time as President, he is not going to have a quiet retirement in Chappaqua. I was expecting him to get off of Air Force One at JFK, make his speech, hop into a cab to La Guardia and catch the shuttle right back to DC. Bill is not going to spend time on a ranch back in Arkansas. Instead, the former president will be spending his time in the place he is least wanted: Washington, DC. Now that Hilary is a US Senator, the Clintons have just bought a very expensive house in DC. One of Clintons associates has been appointed chair of the Democratic National Committee. It looks like Clinton, not Gore, will be the Democrats's main draw and lead fundraiser for the next presidential term.

While Clinton is still wanted elsewhere, Washington is the last place that wants more Clinton years. While Patrick Weil wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times encouraging Bill Clinton to run for President of France, which is technically possible under French law, since Arkansas was once French territory, there is talk that Clinton might pursue the mayorship of New York City. While this seems far-fetched now, it is no weirder than the possibility of Hilary running for Pat Moynihan's Senate seat seemed two years ago. While it would seem to be a lesser office than President, New York's is the only mayor who has a foreign policy.

Even though he is well-liked abroad, Clinton will not be straying too far from the Capitol. The last thing that Bush wants is for Bill to come around to the White House every week, walk in, crack open the fridge, sit down on the couch and say "You know Dubya, when I was president, we weren't having problems like this. If I were you, I'd..." or, "I'm tellin' ya, Dubya, Arafat and Barak were here talking with me. Have you even called back Ehud or Yassir? There's an election comin' up in Israel, ya gotta keep the peace process goin' or there's gonna be even more problems over there."

Expect Clinton to serve over the next four years as the spiritual opposition leader. While he won't have a parliamentary seat, like Ariel Sharon or William Hague, he will have Hilary in the Senate. More importantly, the former president will continue to have easy access to the media, especially the 24 hour news networks and Sunday morning talk shows. With the number of news shows covering national politics, it will not be hard for Clinton to find a place. This Week with Sam, Cokie and Bill anyone? As someone who loves being in the spotlight, Clinton has the opportunity to be a rabble-rouser, a position he is uniquely suited for. His recent comments about Gore actually winning more votes than Bush in the election is only the first of what I expect to be four years of non-stop fundraising and commenting. Expect Clinton to remain in Washington and to continue to serve as the lightning rod that he has as president as an ex-president.