Bill Clinton Is Still A Little Upset About 2008

The New York Times is out this afternoon with a preview of a profile of Bill Clinton running in its Sunday magazine this weekend. Written by Peter Baker, who covered Clinton’s final years in the White House for the Washington Post and who now covers President Obama for the Times, the piece is all about what the former president has been up to lately now that his wife is Secretary of State. There’s plenty of interesting scenes in the piece, starting with the opener: Clinton, looking at handbags and jewelry in Peru, confesses that he likes picking out gifts for his friends’ wives and girlfriends. The former president, who has now been out of the White House longer than he was in it, is an expert at craft stores around the world “and can tell you the best ones in Hong Kong or Arusha,” Baker writes. Thus goes the life of a former president.

But it’s the underlying tension between Obama and Clinton that still lingers from the campaign that’s most telling in the piece. While it appears Obama and Hillary Clinton have made nice, Bill Clinton is still upset about the campaign. He’s still mad that he was trashed for making racially insensitive comments about Obama."None of them ever took seriously the race crap," he says. "They knew it was politics." And according to those close to him, Clinton hasn’t forgiven Ted Kennedy or his niece, Caroline, for endorsing Obama. Ditto for Bill Richardson. Clinton tells Baker that he’s only talked to Obama once or twice since Inauguration Day, though he talks to VP Joe Biden weekly and sends memos to Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser. “I try to stay out of their way,” Clinton says. “I’ve got plenty to do. I’ve got a full life here. If I come up with an idea I think that’s helpful to them, I give it to them.” If his wife asks for advice, he gives it to her—though he notes that it’s harder for him to get in touch with her these days. (Her cell phone doesn’t work at the State Department.) “She used to look forward to me coming home from wherever I’ve been,” he says. “Now I’m afraid I’ll be second fiddle to whatever world leader she’s just met.”

While Clinton may still have issues with those in Obamaland, it’s been well documented that he’s made peace with other former foes includes conservatives like Richard Mellon Scaife who trashed him while in office. As we know, Clinton and George W. Bush made peace, too—and the 42nd president offers Baker some details on how that went down. “You know, I’m a Baptist,” Clinton tells Baker. “We don’t give up on anybody. We believe in deathbed conversions.”