The American Spectator

p> CAN’T HELP MYSELF br> Bill Clinton ‘s high-living post-presidential lifestyle had the Bush Administration on edge as it shipped him off to East Timor as the U.S. representative to that country’s independence celebration. That’s because as the country’s lead delegate to the Asian nation, Clinton was traveling on the U.S. government’s dime. /p>

The former president, though, was well behaved. He played golf during a layover in Hawaii and didn’t charge the green fees to government accounts — though it’s not exactly clear why he felt compelled to repay George Bush’s generosity in appointing him to head the delegation by meeting with Democratic donors on the island state and bad-mouthing the current administration.

“He didn’t do a lot of politicking,” a current aide insists. “The president understood that Mr. Bush had been nice enough to send him on this junket and he didn’t want to overstep his bounds by seeming ungrateful. Still, politics is politics.”

p> RIDGE SECURITY br> Some in the White House are growing increasingly concerned about the state of the Office of Homeland Security. Run by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge , the umbrella organization that is supposed to coordinate the nation’s law enforcement, intelligence and emergency preparedness operations in times of trouble, is facing charges of mismanagement. For example, several White House staffers who have been monitoring the Homeland Security website say that in the past two weeks there have been several occasions where the risk assessment for threat should have raised the color coding above “Yellow/Elevated,” a medium risk rating. “The rating should be high if we’re using Ridge’s definition for the code,” says a White House source. “What’s the point of having this thing if they aren’t going to use it properly?” /p>

Some cabinet offices are complaining to the White House that Homeland staff isn’t communicating with them in a timely manner. The Treasury Department, especially, has raised the communications issues with White House chief of staff Andrew Card. Despite the growing numbers of critics of Ridge, though, all signs indicate that Bush will stand by his friend. “For now,” says another White House source.