Bill Clinton, Beyond the White House....

[whistle]

<snip>
Bill Clinton, Beyond the White House

By Tina Brown
<Washington Post>

The big surprise of Bill Clinton's Global Initiative conference at the Sheraton Hotel in New York last week was how strangely calming it was. You would expect to emerge begging for mercy from a three-day talkathon on the world's most intractable problems emceed by history's most garrulous president -- especially if you were a survivor of one of his book tour gigs.

To be sure, Clinton, the big intellectual showoff, had never been less than brilliant on his feet, but he never knew when to stop. And all that promiscuous lateral thinking ended up sucking the air out of the room. We got so tired of his lack of discipline that by 2000 we thought we were ready for a presidency that operated by assertion. Five years later we see what that's brought.

Maybe it's the effect of his brush with death. He's pared himself down to the essentials, symbolized by the slimmed physique and the paternal reading glasses. His style was always inclusive even when he was on the attack. But now you feel he's shed the psychic baggage of the impeachment years and with it the toxic rock and roll of his constantly roiling reputation.

The new, honed Clinton on the rostrum made sure that any earnest hand-wringing grappled with the raw brutality of irreconcilables. He even saw to it that the panels he moderated actually ran on time.

<edit to add link and cut>
<more>
<link> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
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[supernova]

1. Wow! Just wow! But you have to pare down to 4 paragraphs

for DU copyright. And provide a link.

Is that the whole article. It's really a lovely read. I'm glad Clinton has found something he do and be a postive force for.

[whistle]

2. I would but I don't have the link....

...this was e-mailed to me...if someone has the link I'll cut it

[mzmolly]

3. Link here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102036.html

[whistle]

4. Thanks....

[mzmolly]

5. Thank you, it's a great read.

:hi:

[Auntie Bush]

6. What a great article....I loved it!...Thanks for posting!

[Tallison]

7. That the best, most effective Clinton has yet to emerge

is a riveting prospect. Thanks for this read; it injected a much-needed dose of hope into my otherwise discouraged mood. :hi:

[bluecrush]

8. I'm starting to think that

Bill Clinton would have been an even better president in his later years.