All of our Presidents do not get together at one place or one time very often. The last time was for Gerald Ford’s funeral. They did it again today — an Oval Office meeting with President-Elect Obama, both Presidents Bush, President Carter, and President Clinton. That was probably about the most fascinating conversation in the world today.
Hopefully it was nothing along the lines of “Barack, the bathroom over here, you gotta jiggle the handle on the toilet to get it to flush right.” But I could see something like, “Dude, get the kitchen to make you a chicken salad sandwich some time, it’s out of this world,” or “Don’t let the press corps steal all the wet-naps from Air Force One, you know, the ones that have the cool Presidential seal on them. You’ve gotta have some of those to give away when you meet people after you get to where you’re going.” Advice like that.
Interestingly, it seems that the only real bad blood in the room is between Carter and Clinton. I suppose that makes some sense — this is certainly the most elite club in the United States and just about the most elite club in the whole world. With the passage of time and departure (for three of them) from the rough-and-tumble of daily political life, these guys probably see a lot more in common between themselves than differences.
