bill clinton's restless engagement in the world

If you're a Bill Clinton fan, as I am, then this (long) NYT magazine piece by Peter Baker, entitled "The Mellowing of WJC", is essential reading.

Like many cliches, the expression "larger than life" has only become moribund through repetition - in itself it's a rather brilliant expression of the way some people seem to be more vivid, to embody more of the world, to bend more of the space around them, than the rest of us. For all his flaws - well, in part of because of his flaws - Clinton is one of those individuals.

It's hard to say why he remains such an attractive character, even when you know about his dark side (much on evidence last year). Towards the end of the piece one of Clinton's colleagues has a good go at capturing it:

“It’s a restless engagement in the world,” said Eric Nonacs, who was the foreign-policy adviser to Clinton’s foundation and now does work for the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative. “He’s the same guy who has a huge circle of friends and keeps in touch with all of them. He’s the same guy who wants to finish the crossword puzzle and will do it with everyone around him if he needs to.”

Comments

[peter]

Nonacs' statement brings to mind a statement once made by Hillary about Bill's propensity to edit his speeches right up to the very moment of delivery: "My husband never met a sentence he couldn't mess with!"

[Niko]

I am not sure myself how I feel about Bill Clinton...cause these days (after his presidency) he is really doing lots of good things, things I can't ignore nor deny...but then again how can one say that he is a good man..when for a fact I know that he order bombing of civilian targets during the Balcan war...