Bill Clinton’s 11th-hour involvement in North Carolina’s Tuesday vote to ban gay marriage is just the latest recognition from liberals and progressives that Bubba has surpassed every living former president for the title of ‘Most Influential.”
“We used to call Jimmy Carter ‘America’s greatest former president,’” pollster John Zogby tells Secrets. “Clinton has surpassed Carter’s good works and has loads of political capital.” Adds Stephen Hess, the presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, “Drive, guts, charm, intelligence made him a great politician. Importantly, of course, he refuses to leave the stage.”
The polls agree. Recent Rasmussen surveys say Clinton is the most influential president of the ex-presidents alive and another says most think it’s a positive to be compared to the 42nd president.
“Bill Clinton merely moved from Commander In Chief to global ambassador,” says Democratic advisor and strategist Chris Lehane. “Bill Clinton’s curse was that he left the presidency too young. There’s so much restless energy there…he’s back at full throttle,” adds the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato.
That Clinton was called on to help in the gay ballot initiative in North Carolina with a robo-call to a half million voters both shows his political influence and the extent to which he is willing to help his side, say advisors.
They say it also proves claims from Clinton aides that the nation has shrugged off the Lewinsky sex affair and other Clinton-era scandals. “Bill Clinton keeps proving he’s the comeback kid,” says Sabato. “Bill Clinton is America’s very own political phoenix, after self-immolations he always rises from his own ashes,” adds Hess.
And as he expands his political punch, in large part due to the Clinton Global Initiative, an economic and environmental project, he is expanding his influence beyond even that of President Obama, say supporters. And when teamed with the work of his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two are arguably the nation’s top couple, an argument Sabato agrees with.
“Bill Clinton only has one rival as the most respected Democrat, and it’s Hillary. The two of them, pursuing public agendas in different ways, are back as the nation’s premier power couple. The Obamas have come back down to earth. Just compare their [lower] average favorability rating with the Clinton’s average,” he argues.
