Tuesday, February 20, 2001 2:09 P.M. EST

The Dehabilitation of Bill Clinton
After Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, he began a long process of "rehabilitation." He wrote tomes on foreign policy, occasionally advised his successors behind the scenes, and came to be regarded as something of an elder statesman by the time of his death 20 years later, Watergate notwithstanding.

We wonder if Bill Clinton is wishing he'd stepped down when he faced scandal and impeachment back in 1998. If he had, his rehabilitation would probably be well under way by now. Instead, he seems to be undergoing a process of dehabilitation. The disgrace that eluded him during eight years in office is finally catching up with him, helped along by the the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

In what must be some sort of first, Time and Newsweek both put Clinton on their covers, a month after he leaves office. Time, which in 1992 depicted Gov. Clinton as a photographic negative, now dubs him "The Incredible Shrinking Ex-President." Karen Tumulty's article depicts Clinton as a pathetic figure:

Clinton's ex-presidency is shaping up to be a shriveled version of his presidency. . . . Clinton's red-faced rages over the Rich scandal have familiar themes: "setups," overzealous prosecutors, unfair legal cases that never should have gone to indictment. What is hard to figure out is whether he is playing out his reasons for pardoning a fugitive or working through his personal grudge against the legal system. Did he pardon Rich or himself by proxy? Either way, sighs a comrade who answered the phone recently to find the 42nd President of the U.S. on the other end of the line, "you get tired of listening to it."

Even Clinton's legendary fund-raising skills are faltering, Tumulty says. "In Florida, where Democrats say they will need at least $12 million to defeat Governor Jeb Bush in 2002, a moneyman told TIME that normally dependable givers are citing Clinton's latest scandal, with its allegation that he traded pardons for campaign cash, when they refuse to put pen to check."

Newsweek's Howard Fineman, meanwhile, reports that "Hillary Rodham Clinton is privately said to be furious about the Rich pardon. . . . Sources told NEWSWEEK that she was upset that the rocky start of her husband's new life had obscured the launch of her Senate career."

Holy cow, Hillary is in the Senate? Hillary Clinton? How come somebody didn't tell us?

Clinton himself weighs in with an op-ed piece in Sunday's New York Times defending the Rich pardon. Among other things, he claims that "the case for the pardon was reviewed and advocated not only by my former White House Counsel Jack Quinn but also by three distinguished Republican attorneys." (Has Clinton just now discovered how wise Republican attorneys are? If he'd listened to them back in '98, perhaps he would have resigned the presidency, which, as we noted above, might have been a smart thing to do.)

In Monday's Times, a news article (link requires registration) debunks Clinton's claim: "The three Republicans Mr. Clinton mentioned objected to the way Mr. Clinton referred to their involvement in the matter. . . . They participated in efforts dating to the mid-1980's to have the case against Mr. Rich reviewed and thrown out. All three denied any involvement in the pardon." Monday's Times also carries an editorial (yep, this link requires registration too) describing Clinton's op-ed as "unconvincing."

The Times op-ed editors really seem to have dropped the ball here, publishing an unconvincing piece that had to be fact-checked by the paper's news staff after publication. Oh well, even Homer nods.

Roger and Out
Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports that another recipient of a Clinton pardon, half-brother Roger Clinton, has been the subject of FBI inquiries into "allegations that he sought to peddle influence with his brother's administration."

Last year, agents looked into allegations that the president's half brother sought payments for help in arranging pardons. The inquiry was dropped after Justice lawyers spotted a legal problem. Since Roger Clinton wasn't a federal official, it was not a crime to seek money to deliver action by the government. Roger Clinton may only have been pursuing that most common of Washington trades: lobbyist.

Meanwhile Roger, who was convicted on cocaine charges in 1985, may have reoffended. The Associated Press reports he failed a breath test for alcohol after being picked up Saturday in Hermosa Beach on suspicion of drunk driving.

'A Crafty Duo'
Bill and Hillary Clinton have shipped to the Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark., 70 American craft pieces that were donated to the White House. "The artists who gave them had been assured that their works would be 'displayed in a prominent location in the White House at events throughout the years,' " Dick Morris writes in the New York Post. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton says that "any suggestion of wrongdoing is completely fabricated, because without Hillary Clinton this beautiful exhibit would not even exist."

Clinton Goes to El Paso
Bill Clinton will speak on Oct. 3 at a benefit for the El Paso, Texas, Holocaust Museum and Study Center. The El Paso Times reports that the museum has received dozens of angry calls since announcing Clinton as the speaker at the event. "Several El Pasoans said they not only dislike the former president, but loathe him," the newspaper reports. The Texas newspaper quotes one city resident, Jamie Braunlich, as saying, "The Holocaust victims need to be remembered with honor and dignity. I don't think Bill Clinton has either of those characteristics."

The former president apparently isn't giving the charity a break on his usual fee; the newspaper reports the Holocaust museum's donors will cover Clinton's speaking fee of about $100,000, and that they "will also pay for a private plane for Clinton and some of the costs of his security detail."

FBI Agent Arrested for Spying for Russia
A 27-year FBI veteran, Robert Philip Hanssen, who worked in counterintelligence, was arrested Sunday and was to be charged today, Fox News reports. Former FBI director William Webster will head a blue-ribbon panel to assess the damage caused by the alleged mole.

Trial Lawyers Turn on Nader
Who says Ralph Nader's presidential candidacy wasn't good for America? Some two dozen trial lawyers are withdrawing funding from groups affiliated with Ralph Nader in retaliation for Nader's presidential campaign, which they blame for costing Al Gore the presidential election, Legal Times reports. The president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Fred Baron, says Nader "won't be able to draw flies at an ATLA convention. In fact, he might need some protection." As Overlawyered.com puts it, "All together now: boo-hoo!"

Crazy for Jesus?
Michael Marcavage, a Temple University student, has become a hero to conservative Christians because, he says, college administrators handcuffed him and sent him to a psychiatric ward after a meeting at which he protested a plan to stage the play "Corpus Christi," about a gay Jesus-figure. "It is nothing less than an outrageous attempt to intimidate, silence and belittle Christians," Don Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. The university says Marcavage arrived at the meeting in an "agitated state," then locked himself in a bathroom and came out "sort of staggering." Marcavage has filed a federal lawsuit.

A New U.N. Ambassador
President Bush is expected to name John Negroponte as his ambassador to the United Nations, the Associated Press reports. In this interview for CNN's much-maligned "Cold War" series, Negroponte, a former ambassador to Honduras, reflects unapologetically on American involvement in Central America in the 1980s:

[H]ad we not done something to stop communist regimes from being established in the other Central American countries, other than Nicaragua--say that they had been established in El Salvador and then in Guatemala and possibly even Honduras during the 1980s--if we hadn't taken the steps that we took, I think the immediate suffering could have even been considerably greater--through population movement, the loss of human freedom, the degradation of economic conditions. It seems to be that when these communist regimes take over--if you look at the example of Vietnam or Cambodia or Nicaragua--that even in conditions of peace they don't seem to be able to figure out how to support their people, and the human suffering is enormous. But I think on balance if you look back at what we did, I think a good case can be made that there was actually less suffering in Central America as a result of the actions the United States took than there would have been if we had just folded our arms and done nothing.

Who's the Greatest?
A Gallup poll asks Americans to name the "greatest United States president." Ronald Reagan is most frequently cited, by 18% of respondents. Fellow tax-cutter JFK is second with 16%, followed by Lincoln (14%), Clinton (9%), FDR and Truman (6% apiece) and Washington (5%).

Although there's no disputing that Reagan is the greatest contemporary president, a lack of historical perspective is evident in these results. People appear more likely to admire presidents who served during their lifetimes. That's why, for example, 15% of over-50 respondents cited Truman, vs. only 1% of the under-50 set. In contrast, 14% of those under 50 said Clinton was the greatest, vs. just 4% of those who have passed the half-century mark.

There is one finding of this poll that we find deeply unsettling, however. Four percent of respondents said the greatest president was the marquis of malaise, Jimmy Carter. Now, Jimmy Carter is a good man, and he had some accomplishments as president--in Mideast peace, deregulation and . . . well, that's where our list runs out. But think about what this poll suggests. If it is an accurate representation of public opinion, then one out of 25 Americans thinks the man who gave us the Iran hostage crisis, gas lines and "stagflation" is the greatest president in American history. Greater than Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Coolidge, Truman, Reagan--the list could go on. And these people are allowed to vote!