How Can We Miss You If You Never Go Away?

It's hard to figure out why Clinton couldn't simply embrace his new life from the outset. If being President is the most difficult job in the universe, being an ex-President must surely be the most sublime. The speaking fees and board appointments pay enough to finance homes in any vacation spot one might fancy. Everything one says is wise, and everything one writes goes straight to the best-seller list. Ex-Presidents do good works, make the occasional peacemaking mission, oversee the construction of a shrine for their White House relics. The biggest payoff of all as a former President transubstantiates from pol to statesman is seeing the traits that annoyed and enraged people while he was in office--Harry Truman's commonness, George Bush's blandness, Jimmy Carter's righteousness--come to be regarded as virtues. To be a successful ex-President, Bill Clinton must first find a way to let go of his presidency. Or, even harder, find a way to make it let go of him.

Chat with Andrew Goldstein about the Clinton exit scandals on America Online at 7 p.m. E.T. Wednesday. Keyword: Live