The Clintons

The former president's main shortcoming is that he sometimes forgets that he is, well, the former president. He can fail to see that certain behavior isn't befitting a person in his position. Under pressure from Obama, he released the names of donors to his library and to the Clinton Global Initiative (including $10 million from the Saudis), but after promising years ago that his buck-raking days were over—that he had enough money to devote himself exclusively to good works—there he was in early December in Malaysia, pocketing $200,000 for a speech. He argues unpersuasively that the $13 million he gave Hillary's campaign requires that he continue bolstering his ample fortune.

Bill Clinton's bigger problem is that he can't let go of his bitterness. Hillary was once the one with the long memory, while Bill forgave quickly. Now the roles are reversed. Hillary is, by all accounts, fully onboard with Obama and looking forward. But well after the election, the former president is still telling virtual strangers that Hillary would have won if this or that hadn't happened, and he remains privately lukewarm about the president-elect.

Even so, there's no reason to assume he'll embarrass Obama and, if he does, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will be on the phone reading him (or her) their Miranda rights. Besides, Hillary knows that all the punditry saying she's too big to fire is wrong. If she manages to get pushed out, she's almost certainly finished in politics.

The greater likelihood is success. The Clintons have the rare chance for a "do over" in foreign policy, or, in the case of triumphs like the Irish peace deal, a "do again." Because they won't be distracted this time by other obligations, Hill and Bill (the order now reversed) will be able to focus their legendary energies on diplomatic breakthroughs.

More important, the structure of today's global order may favor Clintonism even more than it did in the 1990s. The Pax Americana of 15 years ago, when the United States stood alone at the summit, was in some ways wasted on Bill, who responded in Bosnia in his first term with a caution befitting a third-string power, not a colossus. Now that unipolar world is gone, replaced by an array of rising powers. The strength of the Clintons always rested in their ability to grasp subtleties and integrate seemingly disparate issues like energy, counterterrorism and development. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld didn't "do nuance." Hillary and Bill do, and they make it pay.

The Obama era has begun, but not at the expense of the Clintons. At a moment of ferment and global possibility, they have more of a chance to shape the world than anyone other than the new president. With so many problems competing for the attention of the new administration in Washington, it's all hands on deck.

No. 12: Kim Jong Il