Washington — The mystery of the last weeks is that the Clintons seem to have lost their political compass. As the grand master of his generation when it comes to politics, Bill Clinton has fumbled since leaving office. Neither the former president nor the freshman senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, has been on course since their final days in the White House.
Hillary's political judgment has been clouded in the past, as evidenced by her failed health-care plan and her stonewalling on Whitewater, which turned a minor embarrassment into a major scandal. Her husband's counsel is not what she needs right now, but his presidency is a model for what she needs to do. Whatever the distraction, President Clinton convinced Americans that he was working on their behalf.
An anchor on one of the cable news networks wondered whether Hillary Clinton could recover politically in only six years. Granted, the new senator from New York has had a disastrous start. There was the $8 million book deal, the soliciting of silverware before the Senate gift rules kicked in, and the what-she-knew-and-when-she-knew-it about her husband's fire sale of pardons. In today's overheated political climate, six days much less six years are a political lifetime.
Hillary faces a balancing act that would challenge the Wallendas, the famed high-wire troupe. She's entwined with her husband for better or worse, yet she has to forge her own identity. Distancing herself from her husband makes her look cold and imperious. When the revelation broke that her brother, Hugh Rodham, had profited from the granting of questionable pardons, Hillary was forced to hold a press conference never her favorite activity. If there's a silver lining, it may be her realization that as an elected official, she can't duck unpleasantness with a head held high and a curt "no comment" the way she did as first lady.
Clinton-watchers have always marveled at the shifting power dynamic within the Clinton marriage. Hillary must have been furious at Bill for the frenzied issuing of pardons in their final hours at the White House. Given the ensuing controversy, the cost-benefit ratio was out of whack no matter how many hundreds of thousands of dollars may have made their way into the Clinton Library Fund.
But just as Hillary was feeling high and mighty the moral one, the organized one the news comes about her younger brother. New York's Marist poll found that a startling 58 percent of Hillary's constituents didn't believe her claim that she was out of the loop on Hugh's lobbying. Now it was Bill's turn to console Hillary. Once again, they're drawn together by a shared political problem.
It must be maddening for Hillary to have voters question her truthfulness. That's supposed to be his problem, not hers. If Al Gore had trouble figuring out his relationship with Clinton, that's nothing compared to what Hillary faces. Gore's situation was short-term, the length of a campaign, and he failed miserably in separating the Good Clinton from the Bad Clinton and benefiting where he could.
It may be that the Clintons' political compass never was internal, but only external in the form of the personally flawed yet politically astute Dick Morris or the equally astute "Rajun Cajun," James Carville. Clearly, both Clintons need someone to whisper, "Yes, Mr. President, you have the right to grant pardons arbitrarily before exiting the White House, and, Senator, you have the right to ask for gifts before entering the Senate. You have the right, but it won't play in Peoria."
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