A warm spot for Wesley
The first public hint of the new Bill Clinton-Wesley Clark axis came a couple of weeks ago at cocktails at the Clintons' Chappaqua, N.Y., home. It was what the money guys call a "donor maintenance" event--something to keep wealthy Democratic contributors happy with that warm "in the loop" feeling only a schmoozefest with ex-presidents and senators can provide. After complimenting the Democratic field, Bill Clinton went on to toast two other "stars" in the party--General Clark and Hillary Clinton.
By last week, Clark was jetting home to Little Rock, Ark., to announce his presidential bid. At almost the same time, the former president was in California giving his wife a migraine. Reporters asked him whether Hillary would stick by her pledge not to run for the presidency in 2004. "That's really a decision for her to make," said Clinton, openly hinting that the matter was not resolved. Really? In whose mind?
There he goes again. Bill Clinton--pot stirrer, campaign maestro, consigliere. And this time his act is bigger than telling Gray Davis how to keep his governor's job. This is really back to the Big Time: It's advising fellow Arkansan Clark to run as an anti-Dean, vaguely antiwar war hero. It's nodding at a bunch of former aides who might want to join the Clark campaign. It's leaving the door open for Hillary, just in case. It's angering all of those other Democrats he had embraced and counseled, only to embrace and counsel another Democrat, behind closed doors. Bill Clinton, cheating on them! "Why would anyone be surprised?" says an ex-Clinton aide. "He wants to be the conductor of the orchestra. He wants to be the puppeteer. He misses it." But, maybe, it's even more than that.
"Safe harbor." The most cynical view, shared by the White House--and even some Democrats of competing presidential campaigns--is that Wesley Clark is a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton. "The issue is let's make certain this race stays screwed up," says a White House adviser. "And guess who that clears the way for?" He says Hillary in 2008; some wary Democrats wonder if the Clintons are arguing about whether it should be in 2004. In any case, sources tell me that while Hillary won't endorse Clark, she's thrilled about the candidacy. Why? "He's a safe harbor," says a Hillary Clinton adviser. "There's no downside for her in being seen with a general."
But it's not really about Hillary; Wesley Clark is all about Bill. Think biography: Both are Arkansas-bred Rhodes scholars. Both are smart (and even their detractors admit it). Both are arrogant. (Like Clinton in 1992, Clark believes he can come from nowhere to win.) Yet while the similarities are real, the differences provide the key: Clark's personal credentials are impeccable. And, lest we forget, he is a military hero, not someone who never inhaled and never served. In fact, that's the beauty of Clark to Clinton: "Bill Clinton wants a general out there defending him when George W. Bush says that Osama bin Laden is Clinton's fault," says a Clinton ally. "Howard Dean can't do it, but Wesley Clark can."
One more thing: On domestic policy, Wesley Clark is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the Democratic Party--good looks, blank slate. He may say he's a "new Democrat" like Clinton, but he's malleable. And who better to mold Clark than the former president and his former staff? "Unlike anyone else in this race, Clark has a feel for the need to find the moderate place on social issues," says a former Clinton aide who likes Clark. "He gets the fact that white men in the middle of the country have to vote for him." Another Clinton, only with stars on his lapels.
Of course, there is this small matter of the rest of the Democratic field. They didn't avoid Clinton, like Al Gore--they courted him, even pretended to be close to him. "Now he kicks them all in the ass," says an ex-Clinton ally. "Everyone knows he's winking at people about Clark." So the field is miffed. "I guess I can understand how they would be annoyed," says Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's former spokesman. "But the fact is there are a lot of undecided people out there--both real voters and Democratic insiders. They're concerned about Howard Dean, and that's not Bill Clinton's fault." But he will be happy to fix everything.
This story appears in the September 29, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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