Nearly 20 years after he left the White House, former President Bill Clinton reportedly enjoys being sought after for advice by Democrats running for president.
But heading into the 2020 presidential election, the names on his schedule prove just how low his standing has fallen — and for someone who loves the limelight like Bill Clinton, it has to be crushing.
In a first, none of the party’s early front-runners have bothered scheduling a formal meeting with Clinton. Nor have any of the women who are running in the field.
Instead, Bill Clinton has spoken only with longshot candidates for the Democratic nomination, including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Housing secretary Julian Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
The party has shifted considerably to the left since his two terms in White House, and his history of scandals — as well as lingering hostilities from his wife Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign — make him an untrusted adviser for some in his party’s next class of presidential hopefuls.
Tensions run particularly deep between the Clintons and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has launched another bid for the White House.
The Clintons blame Sanders for damaging Hillary during the 2016 primary. And as they assess the 2020 field, the Clintons don’t believe Sanders is capable of beating President Donald Trump, according to those who have spoken with them.
Neither side tried to mask the tensions in the days since Sanders launched his 2020 campaign. When asked Friday on ABC’s “The View” whether he would seek campaign advice from Hillary Clinton, Sanders said: “I think not.”
There was not much warmth between Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Sunday when the two were in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 54th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” clash.
Bill Clinton has offered advice to a handful of candidates, sometimes meeting them at his New York office or speaking to them by phone. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was meeting with Hillary Clinton at the couple’s Chappaqua, New York, home when the former president stopped by and sat in on the rest of the meeting.
Clinton’s friends say he still loves the political debate and is closely monitoring early developments in the primary.
While he doesn’t have much of a relationship with some of the younger White House hopefuls, like Beto O’Rourke, some of his contemporaries are considering running, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden. But neither has had a formal meeting with Clinton about the campaign.
The 72-year-old former president rarely offers tactical advice about how to structure a campaign, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. He’s said to be well-aware that technology and campaign tactics have significantly evolved since he was last on the ballot in 1996.
But the famously verbose Clinton does dive deep into policy and offers advice on how to appeal to the same economic anxiety that drove some white, working-class voters to side with Trump over his wife.
Clinton’s focus on white, working-class voters became something of a joke within his wife’s 2016 campaign, with aides privately mocking his insistence on plunging more energy and resources into states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
Top campaign advisers believed they didn’t need to invest heavily in those reliably Democratic states, then watched Trump narrowly edge Clinton out in the upper Midwest on his way to the presidency.
Some progressives say that while they agree Democrats can’t turn their backs on white, working-class voters, they see Clinton’s more centrist approach to winning back those voters as a throwback to an era — and a party — that no longer exists.
“Times have changed,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “The center of gravity within the Democratic Party and the electorate overall has moved massively in a more populist direction.”
Indeed, some of the former president’s signature policies — including the North America Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 crime bill — are out of step with the new, far-left Democratic Party. BIll himself has acknowledged that the crime bill worsened the problem of mass incarcerations, particularly among black men.
But it’s Bill Clinton’s personal baggage — specifically the lingering accusations of rape and sexual misconduct — that has created another uncomfortable dynamic with Democrats running for the White House.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who had been backed by the couple throughout her political career, said Bill Clinton should have resigned from office because of his affair with a White House intern. The Clintons political allies say the couple’s anger at Gillibrand runs deep and their relationship may be irreparable.
It’s a small version of the growing divide between the Clintons and the new Democratic Party.
And that means Bill Clinton may forever be on the outside, looking in.
FLASHBACK: Bill Clinton’s alleged rape victim just went viral (nice comeback!)
The Associated Press contributed to this article