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LLC 2/105 were titled The Natural and The Survivor—but being blessed with remarkable skills is a matter of luck, too. Advanced Search At the moment, the general feeling is that Clinton's luck has run Friday, October 19, 2001, at 6:39 PM ET out. Where once Clinton seemed a master of political communication, he's come off on the campaign trail for his wife as blustery and undisciplined. Where once he was viewed as a genius at political strategy, he's now a key architect—how much art of an architect we don't know, but his role can't have been small—of a primary race that in retrospect seems laughably Industrial-Strength Art inept. In the July Vanity Fair, Todd Purdum, a former White The photographers who found beauty in the factory. By Christopher Benfey House correspondent for the New York Times, criticizes Clinton for keeping sleazy company and quotes unnamed Clinton friends Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at 7:00 AM ET suggesting the man has been angry and weird ever since his heart surgery in 2004. Clinton's response to this allegation—he called Purdum a "scumbag" and issued a tendentious 2,500-word Click here to read a slide-show essay about Bernd and Hilla rebuttal—was … angry and weird. On top of all that, even Becher. Hillary Clinton seems finally to realize that she has lost the nomination to Barack Obama. She may even have blown her . chances of becoming Obama's running mate. The husband-wife world-domination plan lies in tatters. Has the comeback kid's . luck finally run out? . Actually, no. The brutal truth is that a Hillary Clinton presidency was never going to be pleasant for Bill Clinton. He's dodged the bullet yet again. Judging from his behavior, it's doubtful the former president sees chatterbox it that way. It's widely reported that Bill is campaigning energetically for Hillary to get the vice-presidential nod, and in Bill Clinton Lucks Out the June 5 Wall Street Journal, Jackie Calmes suggests Bill may Why Hillary's loss is Bill's gain. By Timothy Noah even be urging Hillary not to quit the race, Obama's ownership of the required delegate count be damned. In her 2007 book, For Thursday, June 5, 2008, at 7:55 PM ET Love of Politics: Inside the Clinton White House, Sally Bedell Smith argues that since 1974 Bill and Hillary "have been united in a common quest to win—and keep winning—political office." It's often been said that Bill Clinton is one lucky bastard. Indeed, Here is how her narrative ends in January 2001: Lucky Bastard was the title of a satirical roman à clef about Clinton that Charles McCarry published in 1998. According to They were more battle hardened than ever, the lucky-bastard theory, no ordinary candidate could recover ready for the long march back to Pennsylvania from Gennifer Flowers' revelation of an adulterous affair just Avenue. Fortified by the acquisition of vast before the New Hampshire primary. Clinton did. No ordinary wealth to augment their high profiles and candidate could expect to win a general-election contest against political connections, they had become a new a commander in chief who'd just led the nation to swift victory and more powerful entity, Clinton, in a war in which fewer than 400 American soldiers were killed. Incorporated. Their mission remained the Clinton did. No ordinary incumbent could win re-election same: high political office, a Democratic against a politically moderate war hero after suffering midterm agenda, the accumulation of power, and the congressional losses of historic proportions and seeing his No. 1 pursuit of the Clinton legacy for the history legislative priority (health care reform) go down in flames. books. To be sure, the principals had swapped Clinton did. No ordinary incumbent could survive impeachment positions. Bill had become chairman, giving over a sex scandal in which he lied under oath and, to all up day-to-day control of the enterprise, and appearances, obstructed justice. Clinton did. No former president Hillary had taken over as CEO. But they could amass a record like this and yet be respected for his policy continued to operate as force multipliers— achievements. Clinton is. These examples all testify in part to through it all, they were still two for the price Clinton's remarkable political skills—two Clinton biographies of one. Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC 3/105 I don't doubt this was, and remains, the reality of Bill and might not be permitted to do anything else. For a guy who likes Hillary's ongoing joint enterprise. I don't even necessarily to be the center of attention, it would be hell on earth. But with quarrel with the idea that it embodies a legitimate, if unusual, Obama's emergence as de facto nominee, it's not going to bond of marital love. But I don't really believe that the big prize happen (not in 2009, anyway). Bill's off the hook. What a lucky sought by Clinton Inc.—a Hillary Clinton presidency—would bastard. benefit Chairman Bill. For starters, if Hillary were president, Bill's own activities would become severely restricted. Bill has already pledged that if his wife received the nomination, he would terminate his lucrative business relationships with Ron Burkle and others. But there's no evidence that he's thought chatterbox through the future of the William J. Clinton Foundation, which Bill rightly regards as the most vital endeavor of his post- Hillary and the City presidency. (Full disclosure: Slate holds an annual philanthropy Is Sex and the City our culture's consolation prize to Hillary Clinton's supporters? conference in conjunction with the Clinton Foundation. I do not By Timothy Noah participate and know little about it.) The Clinton Foundation Monday, June 2, 2008, at 7:40 PM ET raised $113 million in 2006, the last year for which data are available. Legalities aside, I seriously doubt as a practical matter that Bill or even other representatives of the Clinton Foundation could continue raising money for the foundation if Hillary were Does the movie version of Sex and the City owe its success to president; such solicitations would look too much like a the failure of Hillary Clinton's campaign? shakedown on President Hillary's behalf. The same logic applies to the Clinton Library. A Hillary presidency would also surely I haven't seen the movie. That's probably because I'm a man, mean that Bill would have to disclose every past contribution to according to the demographic breakdown of Sex and the City's the Clinton Foundation and Library.