A president with what appears to be an inordinate desire to be loved flashes his talents before an audience often dulled to his brilliance. But there remains that huge chasm between Clinton's performance and the skill level of those who would replace him. Able men in their different ways, they have yet to commandeer the public's interest or the critics' esteem the way Clinton did before he crashed into disgrace. Running the gauntlet of a presidential campaign is the way we test the mettle of those who would lead. Every campaign cycle offers a different combination of quirky coincidences and developments that cannot be anticipated.
Events rush at a candidate with accelerating speed.
The morning after Paul Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary over Clinton in 1992, I told Tsongas that he would feel like an Olympic skier, hurtling down a sheer slope on the slickest ice, gates slapping him in the face, aware that any second could bring calamity. No one knows what it's like till he gets there. Sizing up his audience and tailoring his remarks, decisions, and body language to the group is what made Clinton president and made him the president he became. Like Bill Bradley, he's a Rhodes scholar. No one ever said he wasn't smart.