Maybe itâs because âBubbaâ just doesnât have the same je ne sais quoi as the âGipper,â but Bill Clinton is apparently jealous of the reverence Republicans give former president Ronald Reagan.
According to the much-talked-about New York Times Magazine feature story on the world around Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton, the former president is described as miffed that Democrats don’t treat him like Republicans do Reagan.
Amy Chozick reports: âPeople close to Bill Clinton have told me repeatedly that it irks them that Democrats donât talk about the dignified, slimmed-down, silver-haired former president with the same reverence Republicans give Ronald Reagan.â
Her story, in Sundayâs newspaper, was released online early Friday.
She described tensions between those in Hillary Clintonâs orbit, and those in her husband’s. She also suggest that the former president is aware that his legacy could be impacted by his wife, and also that he hasnât been cheerleading her potential run, according to insiders.
âAccording to those people, Bill Clinton, who is conscious of the demands of a presidential race and what another loss would do to his own legacy and philanthropic work, is deferential about whether his wife should run. When people shout at him that theyâre ready for Hillary, he simply responds with a âThank you,â rather than asking for their support as he did leading up to the 2008 campaign. (That doesnât mean heâs not curious. When Ready for Hillary held a seminar for donors at Le Parker Meridien hotel last fall to discuss what it would take to win in 2016, Bill Clinton personally checked in with an attendee to ask what was being discussed and who was there),â said the NYT.
And, added the story, some in Hillary Clintonâs world arenât happy that she is always linked to him. âDenizens of Hillaryland often express exasperation that even after successfully serving in the Senate and as secretary of state, their boss is still so closely identified with her husband. âItâs my pet peeve when theyâre described as an entity,â Geoffrey Garin, who stepped in as a chief strategist after Mark Pennâs disastrous run in â08, told me. âObviously they are married and do things together, but they are two separate people with two separate identities in political life,â said the story.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
