Light On Dark Water

As One Human Being to Another

When Ronald Reagan died a few months ago I wondered what sort
of obituary I might produce on the death of Bill Clinton. The
question returned this week when the ex-President entered the
hospital for coronary bypass surgery. I was a little surprised at
my immediate reaction, which was quite simple and direct: Good
luck; best wishes; get well soon. It really was an unforced
reaction, and I was glad to see that the intense and bitter
partisanship which Clinton provoked in me (as in many) was not so
poisonous that I did not, when a question of life and death
presented itself, react simply as one human being to another.

It happened on Saturday night that I saw a re-broadcast of a
June interview with Mr. Clinton on Larry King Live.
Perhaps still a bit under the influence of the sympathy I felt
because of his illness, I was struck again by how very gifted
this man is. He discussed the war in Iraq with something pretty
close to wisdom, and was in general, as is usually the case when
his self-interest is not at stake, intelligent and articulate to
a rare degree. I found myself for a moment understanding why
people fell for him. And I felt an unexpected regret: I think I
fully appreciated, for the first time, his potential as a
democratic leader, and, simultaneously, his failure to achieve
it.

As his admirers are quick to point out, he is still a fairly
young man. Does he have something else to contribute? Genuine
love of his country is undoubtedly a real component of his
complex motivations. Will he spend it in the relatively petty and
partisan maneuverings that characterized his presidency, or can
he rise above that? Might a brush with death awaken a greater
seriousness of purpose within him? In what capacity could he yet
serve, since he cannot be president again?

I write this only a few weeks after the Democratic convention,
in which Mr. Clinton delivered a speech that was a classic
expression of the talents and attitudes we saw most while he was
president: a brilliantly planned and charmingly executed piece of
demagoguery, in which, in a practiced move, he used the
charge of divisiveness to divide. Shall we look forward to this
sort of thing for the rest of this political career, or can he
find his way to higher ground?

Best wishes, Mr. Clinton. Get well soon.