The Friend of My Enemy...

In reporting on this NY Times article, which examines the burgeoning friendship between the Bushes and Bill Clinton, John Aravosis says:

This article is going to make the freepers and the other right-wingers even crazier than they already are.

[…]

This article is pretty funny, actually. It's the great Clinton/Bush lovefest.

But imagine how the right wingers are handling this. Clinton has befriended not only the father, but the son.

I have to admit, it’s not sitting too well with this left-winger, either.

The story says, in part:

Former staff members said the friendship could offer political advantages for the Bush and Clinton families, softening the edges of a political rivalry, as Mr. Bush's son begins his second term and as Mrs. Clinton considers a run for president in 2008.

I’m not so sure what political advantages this pally-wally bullshit offers either family, particularly the Clintons, unless they believe it’s going to give Hillary some ideas to garner more sway with the right-wing loons that love Chimpy, in which case it’s perhaps an opportunity that isn’t really worth taking.

Former staff members also said the friendship seemed genuine and was ultimately not that surprising given that there are only five men alive who know what it is like to go through the crucible of the American presidency. At the end of the day, the staff members said, partisan differences were overcome by the power of that shared experience.

I understand forging common ground through shared experience, even with the most unlikely of characters. But the health of the country certainly comes before that, and befriending a group that seeks to undermine the greatest political achievements of the Left, such as Social Security, is surely reason for a man who is considered, and likely considers himself, the most prominent member of the opposition party in the country, to be a bit wiser in forging such alliances.

The new warmth arises as President Bush and Mr. Clinton, who had little love for each other in the past, have grown closer.

"Frankly, President Bush likes Clinton a lot," Roland Betts, a close friend of the president, said. "He says he thinks he's a terrific person. He's not judging his administration. He just likes being around him."

Sure he does. I’m sure Clinton’s a very likeable guy. And I suspect that Karl Rove isn’t exactly displeased by the credibility lent by an important Democrat to show how bipartisan friendship is possible, thereby making claims that the Congressional Dems are bitter partisans, when they actually try to mount a defense of liberal beliefs, seem viable.

Clinton just can’t learn to keep it in his pants.