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'War horses' Bush, Clinton lay ground for 2016 race

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[h=4]'War horses' Bush, Clinton lay ground for 2016 race[/h]In a rare joint interview, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush discuss the qualities of leadership, the value of their friendship and the bruising Clinton-Bush 2016 battle that may be ahead.

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USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page interviews President George W. Bush about his leadership program, his relationship with President Bill Clinton and how his brother Jeb's presidential campaign is going. Taylor Lumsden, WFAA


George W. Bush and Bill Clinton stand near a rendering of President Lincoln in Bush's office at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the SMU campus in Dallas.(Photo: Michael Mulvey for USA TODAY)


DALLAS — Bill Clinton and George W. Bush agree on this: Learning leadership skills is crucial in just about every worthwhile endeavor in American life, political and otherwise.
That said, they couldn't disagree more on who, exactly, would have the right leadership skills in 2016 to warrant winning the White House job they both have held.
In a rare joint interview, the two former presidents who share what may be the most complicated political relationship in modern times sat down with USA TODAY Thursday at the Bush Presidential Center. They were together for the graduation ceremony of the inaugural class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, a project sponsored by four presidential libraries that has offered leadership training for mid-career professionals who work for non-profit groups, private-sector firms, state and local agencies and in the military.
The participants aren't really politicians.
"People hear this and they say, 'You've got a Young Republicans Club' or 'Clinton's got a Young Democrats Club,' (but) that's not the intention at all," Bush said. "The intention is to take people who have shown good promise and let them learn some lessons about how decisions were made or how people collaborated."
"There might be nothing we can do anymore about how fractured America is politically and ideologically," Clinton said. "But in the end, people have to get together and make decisions and do things — not just in Congress and the White House, but I mean all over the country."
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Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Bush's office at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the SMU campus in Dallas.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Michael Mulvey for USA TODAY)

It was impossible to ignore the elephant in the room, or maybe the elephant and the donkey. That is: Clinton's wife, Hillary, is the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Bush's brother Jeb is in the top rank of contenders for the Republican nomination.
Friends today, combatants tomorrow?
"He loves his brother; I love Hillary," Clinton said. If they win their respective presidential nominations, "he's going to vote for his brother; I'm sure going to vote for Hillary, and something will happen. But we'll still be friends."
"I know Jeb will treat Hillary with respect, and I'm confident Hillary will treat Jeb with respect," Bush said. "I'm not sure I can speak that highly of some of the surrogates they may have out there, but these two surrogates will" do that as well.
The two men sat side by side on a couch in Bush's private office at his presidential center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. They had just finished having a class photo taken with the program's scholars, and in a few minutes, they would head to the auditorium for a joint address to the group.
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They seemed relaxed and at ease, friendly and deferential to one another. They discussed a challenge they had shared: how to raise confident daughters into adulthood. Bush reached over to touch Clinton's shoulder as he made a point; at another time, Clinton tapped Bush's arm.
"Sometimes the decisions we make have bigger consequences," Clinton said, describing how presidential leadership is in some ways different from other top jobs. "No question," Bush chimed in.
When Bush noted, "A president, it turns out, has to be prepared for the unexpected," Clinton nodded and said, "Yes," then enumerated the challenges Bush faced when the 9/11 attackers struck during the first year of his tenure.
They said neither believes a 2016 Clinton-Bush campaign would be waged any differently because of their friendship and collaboration — nor do they think it should.
"I don't think it's going to be different," Bush said flatly. "I think it's going to be a political campaign."
"If they win the nominations, it's going to be a very hard-fought campaign, and if it's like any other campaign, it'll be somewhat bruising, and the surrogates will be really tough, and they'll have hard debates, and we'll just live with it," Clinton said.
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His advice to the prospective candidates: "Make the choice clear: 'This is where I am; this is where he is.' Be as accurate as you can, and let it rip."
The two got to know each other under hostile circumstances, during what Bush called "the first Bush-Clinton race," which he wryly noted "didn't turn out that well" for his side. In 1992, Clinton defeated the elder George Bush in his bid for a second term. In 2000, the younger Bush defeated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore. Another contest between the families in 2016 would break new ground.
Though they differ in party registration and many policy positions, they share some fundamental characteristics, Bush said. "First of all, we're Baby Boomers, and the only two Baby Boomer presidents. Secondly, we were both governors of Southern states, Arkansas and Texas." He said both were "affable people; we're not zero-sum thinkers." And at this point, he said, both were "like two old war horses, put out to pasture."
Clinton became so close to the elder Bush over the years after their election showdown that the younger Bush jokes he is his "brother by another mother." Clinton made a similar reference when noting that Bush had turned 69 this week, a month ahead of Clinton. ("For one month a year, I'm the younger brother," Clinton said.)
"I just wrote him a birthday note because he just had a birthday," Clinton said. "So I said, 'Now we have a genuine family feud, maybe we ought to go get that guitar player from Deliverance and get him to play for us.' Remember that movie? I mean, the banjo player, the dueling banjos."
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