When Opposites Attract

The whole deal, as 42 might say, was 43's idea. Looking for a way to showcase the U.S. relief effort after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami last December, George W. Bush wondered if his two immediate predecessors in the White House might be willing to suit up and hit the road. He asked his chief of staff, "Do you think they'd work together?" The easy, reflex answer would have been no. George Herbert Walker Bush and William Jefferson Clinton came from different generations, from different social classes and from opposing political parties. Their 1992 face-off wasn't exactly tea and sympathy: Bush once called Clinton a "bozo," and Clinton usually referred to his rival as "Old Bush." The 10 years that followed weren't much better. The 1992 defeat hit Bush so hard that friends say he needed half a decade to get over it, and an aide recalls that some of Clinton's angriest private moments during his impeachment were rants directed not at independent counsel Ken Starr but at the Bush family's aura of privilege at a time when Clinton felt persecuted. Besides, whatever their history, the dynastic calculations were dizzying: one man's son is President, and the other's wife is believed by many to be a contender for next in line--a pair of legatees who, just to complicate things further, also happen to be the two most polarizing figures in American politics. Spanning those gaps would require a bridge not to the 21st century--but to the 21st dimension. How could it possibly work?

And yet Andrew Card told his boss he thought it would. He assumed that the President's father would be an easy sell. And Card had been taking a lot of calls from Clinton--calls that came in late on Sunday nights, sometimes early in the morning--and he had been struck by how much Clinton seemed to know about the tsunami disaster and how much he wanted to help. Card knew that both men still had most of the world's leaders, moguls and wise men on their speed dials and could make things happen quickly. And so Card made some calls of his own and, within 10 minutes, had both men signed up, ready to go.

The result has been the most fascinating political partnership of the year. Their story has been like a buddy movie: an unlikely and even awkward arrangement that evolves into real friendship and then an alliance that expands beyond its original mission. Their team has its limits and its lingering, unbridgeable differences, and their bond sparks considerable resentment in the wings of both their parties. But first with the tsunami and then with Katrina, the two men have galvanized the private response to natural disasters this year. What's more, by working together, Bush and Clinton have reminded a deeply divided nation how much old-fashioned teamwork is missing from its politics and what can be accomplished if people just join forces and pitch in. Says Clinton: "I think people see this, and it reminds them of how America is supposed to work."