Bill Clinton's blunders on the campaign trail have tarnished his reputation as a political virtuoso.

After he made yet another campaign-trail blunder, Hillary Clinton has told her husband to back off. Many in the Democratic party, even those in Bill's corner, would like him to back off, too. The debate about his political legacy is effectively over, and no one but a handful of prominent Democrats will argue that his presidency was salutary for the Democratic party. Present circumstances reinforce that judgment. Bill has been pilloried for his conduct in this campaign. We've seen his bad side -- temper tantrums, parochialism, arrogance, promiscuity with the facts -- and none of his good side. His post-presidency cocoon, gilded in no small part by the American taxpayer, seems to have left him ill-prepared for the modern news cycle. He's certainly no longer his party's best political strategist.

It may be too late to rehabilitate Bill Clinton the Democrat. But Bill Clinton the president? The Earned Income Tax Credit, arguably the largest anti-poverty program in recent memory; the innovations of welfare reform; NAFTA; the crime bill; willingness to fight against his party at times; low interests rates; real wage growth; deficit reduction; the tech boom; full employment. On the other side: NAFTA; welfare reform; willingness to fight against his party; Lewinsky; Rubinomics; regulatory dismantlement of the financial markets -- ah well. Looks like there's still an argument there, too.