Clinton rides into sunset in a trail of adulation

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 21. In all the focus on the inauguration ceremonies including the parade that followed, there was also attention on something that had been a fixture of the media here for the last eight years - the outgoing President, Mr. Bill Clinton. When the United States Air Force Plane - not calling itself Air Force One this time - dropped the Clintons off at the John F. Kennedy airport, the unanimous view was that the former President was not going into political oblivion.

``When you leave the White House you wonder if you'll ever draw a crowd again. I left the White House, but I am still here'', Mr. Clinton remarked to many of his supporters and loyalists who had thronged a hangar at the Andrews Air Force Base prior to the journey to New York. For a President who had apparently worked through the night packing, watching a movie and going through the last minute pardons list, his final minutes before leaving Washington formally lifted the spirit of his loyal troops.

``We should not be sad today. We should feel grateful and happy'', he told supporters at Andrews Air Base. Many of the senior Cabinet officers like the former Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, the outgoing Treasury Secretary, Mr. Lawrence Summers and the former Transportation Secretary, Mr. Rodney Slater, were among those who came to see Mr. Clinton off. The former President recalled what his Chief of Staff, Mr. John Podesta, remarked some two hours before the changing of the guard: ``We did a lot of good. We did a lot of good.''

At the Andrews Air Force Base, Mr. Clinton once again demonstrated his political strengths, ones that candidates would love to emulate if that is the way to succeed. The former President took his time working the crowd of supporters; and once again gave a stirring speech that moved many to tears. Communication has always been one of his best known strengths, something that his Vice-President, Mr. Al Gore, clearly lacked even if he was a really ``solid'' person all round.

In a very political city like Washington, it remains to be seen how the Republicans and the Democrats start reacting to the departure of Mr. Clinton and the coming of the Bush administration. In a country where politics rarely takes a break, it should not be surprising if the campaigns for the elections of 2002 and 2004 have already begun somewhere. But in the departure of Mr. Clinton from the scene, a lot of soul searching is going to take place in both parties.

In the perspective of the Democratic party itself, much remains to be seen on how it is going to bring itself together to face political realities. On the one hand, it is tempting to argue that the coming of Mr. Bush and his team to Washington is itself an impetus for the Democrats to come together. Yet, on the other hand, the Democratic party is not what the party was in a traditional sense.

And Mr. Clinton helped it to steer to the Centre with a tinge of conservatism and in the process bring about the ``New Democrat'' and with this an element of uneasiness in the party itself. How these play out in the House of Representatives and the Senate remains to be seen for it has implications for both 2002 and 2004.

Even while keeping an eye on the legislative agenda with a view to taking back the Congress in 2002, the Democratic Party will have to start making a pitch for the White House in 2004. And it is here that people like Mr. Al Gore and Mr. Joseph Lieberman will have to decide if they will be in the fray four years from now. And there will be those old and new faces that will surface - already one name doing the rounds is the Governor of California, Mr. Gray Davis.

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