For not doing enough about…AIDS and Rwanda.

That’s according to a New Yorker article by David Remnick just e-mailed to me by the magazine’s P.R. people. Here’s a snippet:

Remnick reveals a man still very much obsessed with leaving his mark on the
world, through his foundation work on international health initiatives and
his persisting influence over world leaders. On a seven-country tour of
Africa this summer, Clinton met with Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates and other
Western aid workers, and African dignitaries to help raise awareness about
the work being done by his foundation. Gates, admiring Clinton’s mastery of
public relations, tells Remnick, “We do macro—we learn from individual
cases, but we’re about new vaccines. But President Clinton is doing
fantastic work and plays a unique role shining a light on the problem. We’re
really doing complementary things.” One senior official in the Clinton
Administration tells Remnick that while the foundation’s work in public
health has been effective, “the motive for Clinton’s advocacy work is
simple—he is trying to atone for what he did not do about aids and Rwanda
when he was President.” He adds, “His failure as President on aids is
incredible.” Clinton tells Remnick that failure to act in Rwanda was the
worst foreign-policy mistake of his Administration:

“Whatever happened, I have to take responsibility for it…. That was my fault.”

How big of him.

Online Q&A with Remnick is here.