Bill Clinton’s African Rehab

The comeback this time is low-key and far away as the former president surfaces from his Democratic primary flameout for a Washington Post interview, sounding subdued and philosophical.

Sidelined by the Obama campaign, he is on “a grueling journey across Africa to visit some of the places where his charitable foundation has been active–and in the process re-establish his role as a global elder statesman.”

If he is not at the red-hot center of the ‘08 political action, Clinton can turn his energies to exhorting disappointed Hillary admirers to stay in the game locally–and perhaps for four or eight years from now.

“What we Democrats can’t afford to do, even as we support Senator Obama, is try to build one America on the cheap,” Clinton tells the Post, explaining that they should not tell themselves, “I voted across the racial divide; I have no obligations to do something in my community or around the world,” urging them “to heave-to here. We’ve got to show up.”

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