Little Rock. Ark. ? President Bush and his advisers have always been reluctant to follow the lead of his presidential predecessor, Bill Clinton.

But the people who will plan the presidential library expected to be built at Southern Methodist University can get some valuable pointers on how best to accentuate the positive from the William J. Clinton Presidential Center on the banks of the Arkansas River.

Like most of these living memorials to past presidents, the Clinton library, which opened in November 2004, provides a positive interpretation of his presidency. It notes that his administration produced “unparalleled prosperity” and left the United States “more respected in the world than it had ever been.”

Touring the aluminum structure designed to resemble the “Bridge to the 21st Century” theme of his 1996 re-election campaign, one almost gets the sense its planners deliberately sought to contrast the successes of his administration with the woes that developed under his successor.

The section on Bosnia and Kosovo, for example, notes that the Clinton White House “overthrew a brutal dictator (Slobodan Milosevic) without losing a single American life.” Also highlighted in several places is the fact that Clinton inherited a massive budget deficit and bequeathed a large surplus.

The Bush planners could learn a lot about putting a positive spin on the war in Iraq from the way the Clinton library explains Clinton’s failure to pass a massive restructuring of the health care system and the 1998 effort to oust him from office over his misstatements in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

The failure of the health care plan devised by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the library’s version concludes, was caused by “negative advertising and charges of ‘big government,'” accentuated by “partisan bickering.”

There is nary a suggestion she may have mishandled the effort by devising her plan in secret and proposing a massive structure that proved an easy target for critics.

It contends that former Speaker Newt Gingrich precipitated impeachment as part of “The Fight for Power” and, “like every other politically motivated” probe of the Clintons, it “led nowhere.”

As for Clinton’s responsibility, it says that “President Clinton acknowledged he had not been forthcoming about the relationship” with Monica Lewinsky. She is not otherwise identified, nor is there any sign of the infamous blue dress.

Under such a model, the Iraq section in the Bush library might be titled “Bringing Democracy to the Middle East.” One might expect it to stress the oft-recounted iniquities of Saddam Hussein more than prewar warnings that Saddam had developed weapons of mass destruction.

And it will likely hail the heroism of U.S. forces and blame the postwar insurgency on al-Qaida’s decision to make Iraq a base for global terror, rather than inadequate U.S. postwar planning.

None of this is surprising. Every presidential library – and I’ve seen all but one – reflects the tenor of the presidency it commemorates in highly subjective terms.

The Herbert Hoover library in rural West Branch, Iowa, puts far more stress on Hoover’s pre-presidential humanitarian efforts than on his disastrous presidency, in which it notes he encountered communications difficulties.

The Jimmy Carter library emphasizes the 1978 Camp David Accords and his human rights work.

And the Ronald Reagan library, on a California hillside that invokes his oft-stated vision of a “shining city on the hill,” is so oriented toward Reagan and wife Nancy that there’s little sign anyone else mattered, though he relied heavily on top aides.

Clinton’s library reflects him most clearly in stressing the minutiae of government, including detailed accounts of laws passed and global initiatives pursued.

The Bush folks may want to look at that, too, because it’s a safe guess they will want to tout such achievements as tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind education bill and drug coverage for Medicare recipients as a counterpoint to Iraq and fiscal woes.