Bill Clinton's star rises anew

When I had a little pre-Monitor breakfast chat with Bill Clinton's long-time sidekick, James Carville, the other morning, he told me that he talks to the ex-president frequently and, in fact, had breakfasted with him the previous day. And right then - with a little nudging from me - Mr. Carville promised to bring his buddy over to meet with our group "next time Clinton comes to town." We'll see.

I noticed, however, in a piece by one of the best of the Clinton watchers during his years in the White House - the Washington Post's John P. Harris - that Clinton hasn't yet, since leaving office, been willing to sit down and talk with members of the media. Mr. Harris says Mr. Clinton has turned down some 2,000 formal interview requests from journalists.

Indeed, Clinton turned down Harris, too. But Clinton did, it seems, provide a written answer to a Harris question about his "transition to a new life." "I've never had a period of my life when I didn't have a good time," he said. "What I miss most is my work, about having influence on things I cared about."

Harris also reports that up until recently - according to friends close to Clinton - he has been in a "funk." The transition back to "civilian life" has been hard on a man who had been living under a government roof (first as governor, then as president) for the past 22 years.

Now which Clinton are we to believe is the real one? "Happy" or "in a funk"? Well, from talking to reporters at Monitor breakfasts who keep up with the Clinton saga by talking to Clinton's associates, I think that Clinton may be trilling happily from time to time (when he's speaking or otherwise in the limelight), but spends most of his time mightily bored and singing the blues.

Clinton now has let it be known that he intends to get back into "public life." That means, I think, he's simply going to be on the public stage more and more in the coming months. He'd probably love to run for office again. But that's not going to happen anytime soon - probably never. But he's going to get as close to it as he can; that's certain.

I'm told Clinton already is talking to some possible presidential candidates about their prospects. He so enjoys talking strategy. And he's acknowledged to be one of the very best political strategists that this country has ever seen.

I confess that I'm astonished that Clinton should once again be talking about becoming a political force. The scandals, and, most notably, his impeachment, might well have consigned him to disgrace and relative anonymity after leaving office - particularly after his pardoning of fugitive Marc Rich and, along with Mrs. Clinton, being accused of taking gifts from the White House that were intended to stay there.

But somehow Clinton is weathering all this. I shouldn't be too surprised. Even during his worst days of Monicagate, this Teflon president kept getting a high approval grade from the voters.

Could Clinton become the titular head of the Democratic Party? He seems headed in that direction. However, there's a latent but very strong resistance among many party activists to Clinton's playing that lead role. Get them off the record, and they will say something like: "He's a great politician, but his scandals cost us the last presidential election."

These influential Democrats simply don't want Clinton and his record of personal misbehavior on the presidential ballot (implicitly) in 2004. More immediately, they don't want that Clinton scandal ever entering into any part of the gubernatorial, Senate, and House elections next year.

There's a good reason for this opposition to Clinton rising too high in the party. It's Al Gore. Clinton and Mr. Gore aren't talking. More than that: They are no longer friends. And what buddies they used to be! Where you saw President Clinton, you almost always saw his vice president. And the wives were a part of that warm togetherness.

But no more. Clinton talks of his broken relationship with Gore and openly asks: "Why doesn't he like me?"

Well, Clinton knows the answer to that. Gore thinks Clinton and his scandals cost him the election.

So Clinton moves up the road toward renewed public acclaim - and perhaps stardom - once again. His is a remarkable recovery.

But he can only go so far.