The elephant in the Clintons' room
HOLLYWOOD MOGUL David Geffen has kicked up a storm by saying publicly something that Democrats usually only whisper privately.
A former Friend of Bill, Geffen told
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's camp immediately cried foul at those and other comments, demanding that primary rival Barack Obama distance himself from the erstwhile Clinton ally, who had cohosted a fund-raiser for the Illinois senator.
"I believe Bill Clinton was a good president, and I'm very proud of the record of his two terms," Hillary said.
This is one of those situations where both sides have a point -- points that highlight the odd dualism in which Bill Clinton exists today.
Respected around the world and prudent and pragmatic in his policies, he was a solid, successful president. Certainly his record looks particularly strong in contrast to the rash, ill-considered actions of President Bush. That's something some conservatives have been honest enough to acknowledge.
So despite the roller coaster ride of his presidency, Clinton counts as the first successful Democratic president since JFK. Yes, he had his failures, but overall, he inherited a mess, and left the country in relatively good shape. That's left him a revered figure among Democrats -- as long as he's considered in the frame of former president.
And yet, in his personal conduct, he displayed a breathtaking recklessness -- a trait that renders him a risk as a candidate's spouse. Although his impeachment was an orgy of partisan excess, it's still hard to believe that, attuned as he was to the realities of American politics, he would risk his presidency on a fling with a Generation X flibbertigibbet.
Now, whether one thinks the Clinton union is merely a political partnership masquerading as a marriage or a real relationship, its history shadows Hillary Clinton as she seeks the presidency.
Some argue that marital conduct shouldn't matter, and certainly that's long been the European view. William Gladstone had known 11 prime ministers, he once observed, "and 10 were adulterers." An indulgent Italy found itself amused recently when the wife of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi publicly demanded an apology from her husband for his flirtations with other women.
Yet would even those Democrats who say that infidelity shouldn't matter honestly argue that it doesn't or won't , particularly in the strait-laced heartland?
It's hardly fair to blame Hillary for her husband's past conduct. And yet it's also impossible to separate her from the psychodrama of their marriage -- or the political peril a recurrence of that conduct may present.
In May, The Times ran a story examining the "largely separate" lives the Clintons lead. That account said that since early 2005, they had averaged about 14 days together a month. Although diplomatically done, it was a story whose subtext couldn't help but raise questions about their marriage.
Asked about the piece by David Remnick of the New Yorker, the Clintons brushed it off.
"I'm just not going to give up a lot of psychic energy worrying about what other people worry about," Hillary Clinton said.
After initially suggesting that The Times wanted "to take the place of the Enquirer, and the Globe, and the Star," Bill Clinton had this to say: "You know, when I look at how old I am, and see my gray hair in the mirror, I can't imagine that anybody's interested in my life anymore."
Perhaps that's all the Clintons can say. After all, they've offered previous professions, notably on "60 Minutes" during the 1992 campaign, that their problems were past and their marriage was fine. Who, really, would credit a rerun of those assurances?
Still, people can't help but wonder -- and worry.
And that's why Geffen has given voice to something usually unspoken but nonetheless real.
For all the attractiveness of Hillary Clinton as a candidate, for all her brains and policy savvy, she represents a dilemma for Democrats. It's one reason why, despite the nostalgia for the Clinton presidency, some wonder whether they really dare take a second chance on Bill and Hillary.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 
