Edited by Piotr Bielinski
Bill Clinton: At His Best “in a Relationship”
Published in Le Figaro
(France) on 29 May 2011
by Véronique Saint-Geours (link to original)
(France) on 29 May 2011
by Véronique Saint-Geours (link to original)
Translated from
by Rachel Towers.
Edited by .
Since completing his two terms, we’ve seen Bill Clinton travel the world — alone — for his William J. Clinton Foundation. But there have been a few missions where he’s paired up with another, such as with President Bush Senior after Katrina or Bush Junior after the Haiti catastrophe, and in which he appeared to be the manager of a bipartisan team for reconstruction. This time it’s Michael Bloomberg, the Republican mayor of New York City, with whom he’s pairing up. They’re leaving together to travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the C40 (the group of 40 cities) Climate Leadership Conference. He obviously loves this work and we’re watching him more closely.
With Hillary, he makes up one of those power couples that no one and nothing can touch. Having overcome the Lewinsky affair is a weapon beyond any comparison. The support — even if it was rather inconvenient — of Bill Clinton for his wife’s Democratic candidacy in 2008 and the admiration he shows for her performance as secretary of state prove exactly to what point these two have their destinies intertwined and inseparable. During Chelsea’s wedding in 2010, they formed a couple of parents; they are “The Clintons.”
Bill came to the White House to explain to President Obama how to handle the results of the midterm elections. Obama and his wife appeared together in the Press Room and they seemed bonded by a great mutual trust, to the point that the 44th president left him the microphone to rejoin his wife, who had been waiting for him for over an hour. Bill Clinton found himself delighted to be at the microphone, just like the old days, and spoke on their behalf. He's a team player, indeed.
With the two Bushes, he had to design and find reconstruction funds after the two environmental catastrophes of Katrina and Haiti; it went extremely well, especially with Bush Senior, who has become like another son in this family which he absolutely hated while he was president. There seems to be some sort of Clinton magic that makes couples work.
His former vice-president, Al Gore, had absolutely no sympathy for him for everything that had happened — during Monicagate or any other time — but they saw each other again at the funeral of the man who had introduced them, the former governor of Tennessee, Ned McWerther. Clinton had probably a bit of compassion for him when all of the massage stories came to light and caused the Gores to separate. It effectively brought them closer together.
As for the mayor of New York, that couple is a bit less obvious. Bill and Michael have known each other for over 10 years but no longer than that. The Republican businessman turned mayor of New York and the former president have had dinner together once or twice and played golf — but that's about it. And we’ve just learned that they’re going to join together their billions of dollars and billions of powerful friends to fight together against the planet’s climate problems, as well as [fight for] the C40, which Bill Clinton has been following for six years and for which he needs enormous financial support. Together they’re going to announce a partnership with the World Bank for the cities that want to reduce energy consumption and its dangers. It’s a new dimension for Bill Clinton. But everyone is asking themselves about the nature of their pairing. Both are leaders at heart and don't like to share power. Where will this couple go? Careful, Bill: Michael is an eternal candidate.
With Hillary, he makes up one of those power couples that no one and nothing can touch. Having overcome the Lewinsky affair is a weapon beyond any comparison. The support — even if it was rather inconvenient — of Bill Clinton for his wife’s Democratic candidacy in 2008 and the admiration he shows for her performance as secretary of state prove exactly to what point these two have their destinies intertwined and inseparable. During Chelsea’s wedding in 2010, they formed a couple of parents; they are “The Clintons.”
Bill came to the White House to explain to President Obama how to handle the results of the midterm elections. Obama and his wife appeared together in the Press Room and they seemed bonded by a great mutual trust, to the point that the 44th president left him the microphone to rejoin his wife, who had been waiting for him for over an hour. Bill Clinton found himself delighted to be at the microphone, just like the old days, and spoke on their behalf. He's a team player, indeed.
With the two Bushes, he had to design and find reconstruction funds after the two environmental catastrophes of Katrina and Haiti; it went extremely well, especially with Bush Senior, who has become like another son in this family which he absolutely hated while he was president. There seems to be some sort of Clinton magic that makes couples work.
His former vice-president, Al Gore, had absolutely no sympathy for him for everything that had happened — during Monicagate or any other time — but they saw each other again at the funeral of the man who had introduced them, the former governor of Tennessee, Ned McWerther. Clinton had probably a bit of compassion for him when all of the massage stories came to light and caused the Gores to separate. It effectively brought them closer together.
As for the mayor of New York, that couple is a bit less obvious. Bill and Michael have known each other for over 10 years but no longer than that. The Republican businessman turned mayor of New York and the former president have had dinner together once or twice and played golf — but that's about it. And we’ve just learned that they’re going to join together their billions of dollars and billions of powerful friends to fight together against the planet’s climate problems, as well as [fight for] the C40, which Bill Clinton has been following for six years and for which he needs enormous financial support. Together they’re going to announce a partnership with the World Bank for the cities that want to reduce energy consumption and its dangers. It’s a new dimension for Bill Clinton. But everyone is asking themselves about the nature of their pairing. Both are leaders at heart and don't like to share power. Where will this couple go? Careful, Bill: Michael is an eternal candidate.