Since the Asian tsunami in December 2004, we have been hearing, ad nauseum, about the developing friendship of former Presidents Bush and Clinton. They travel together with favorite nicknames and secret handshakes. They work on such issues as flood, hurricane and famine relief. A few days ago, they showed up again (along with the current President, First Lady and former President Carter) at the funeral of the late Coretta Scott King, basking in the ebony glow of a moral force now preserved as history.

Is it heartening to think that these two oppositional politicians get along so well–or is it philosophically depressing? Despite their very different viewpoints, the two former Presidents Bush and Clinton seem to both lack core beliefs, and are willing to compromise as long as the end result is power and its preservation. But how can they reconcile the two enemy camps, as generals in a partisan war? Do they just keep their personal opinions to themselves, or are they such practical politicians that words become tools of policy rather than expressions of feelings?

Surely, Mr. Bush cannot have supported the constant personal attacks on Bill Clinton that were a feature (and still are) of the Republican Party. There is scarcely a day that goes by, that some idiotic policy of the current administration isn’t justified by saying, “Clinton did it first”.

Does Mr. Clinton believe that his own impeachment charges were more serious than the current Presidential policy of unwarranted wiretapping and spying on Americans? Is lying about weapons of mass destruction, in order to forment an invasion, not an impeachable offense? If dishonesty about an affair with an intern merits removal from office…..well these elder leaders must not discuss such minor things.

And what about the forked tongue Hillary Clinton?

She voted for the war, yet sort of opposes it, and thinks we should fight on. But she is also in a hurry to get the troops home, but not before they’ve finished the job that she doesn’t really think necessary, but that is vital to our national interest. She is busy preparing to run for President in 2008 or 2012 or 2016 and erasing her left wing life at Wellsley College. She is bolstering her Christian credentials by fighting against the most evil force on Earth: video games. Like an old cum stain on a dark blue dress, her record is becoming more murky. She wants to be all things to all people, but most of all she wants to be President.

“W” himself is pulling these marionettes on a string. He has cast the lip-biting performer Bill Clinton and co-starred him with good ole DAD. The two ex-Presidents are servants to those humanitarian productions that the Executive Branch cannot successfully produce: hurricane and flood relief, AIDS and education. ‘W’ has cleverly wooed Mr. Clinton, to help insure that Ms. Clinton will not be able to criticize the Republicans too strongly. The moral of the story is to keep the moral in the story.

Befriending the Bushes is OK with Mrs. Clinton, because her principles are as malleable as her loyalities. Friends are only temporary allies on the way to the Oval Office. By contrast, Mr. Bush has eternal loyalty to his friends, and sticks firm to his beliefs, even if they are illegal, unconstitutional and dead wrong. What a pair of friends these two families make!