Bill Clinton's political post-presidency

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, pivoting off the news of Bill Clinton’s central role in next month’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, explains that it’s an acknowledgment by President Obama and his team of two things:

First, that there is no better economic messenger in the party than the former president. And, second, that Obama needs Clinton… With the economy dominant, the unemployment rate too high (and stagnant) and President Obama struggling to convince undecided voters that he has a plan to make things better, much will fall on Clinton to make the case for why economic-minded voters — particularly downscale whites in the Rust Belt — should choose the Democratic Party. In short: President Obama (and his team) know that they need Bill Clinton and, to their credit, they aren’t letting past conflicts get in the way of acknowledging that necessity.

It’s also a tacit recognition of the extraordinary political role Clinton has played since his presidency ended more than a decade ago. No president in the post-war era has had such a sustained and active post-presidential presence in the political arena — he played a highly visible role in the 2008 presidential election and since then has raised money for the party and Obama, and campaigned for dozens of candidates.

That’s a very different post-presidency than that of other modern presidents.