Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Bill is just amazing.

Tonite Bill was on Larry King. Thanks to a blog follower for the tip! And it was, of course, a really great interview. Here is the full video: And here are the Highlights:

BILL ON BLACKBERRIES KING:We keep hearing about -- we're going to touch other bases here. Obama's BlackBerry -- he's got a special BlackBerry now that doesn't have to be recorded into the White House. Do you have the number?

CLINTON: No. No. But I know that...

KING: Would you like the number?

CLINTON: I know that in the world that exists today, if you're hyper busy, you need them. Hillary lives on hers. And...

KING: Do you have one?

CLINTON: No, I don't, because... I -- you know, when I want to e-mail somebody, we e-mail somebody. But I don't -- I like being able to concentrate on what I'm doing one thing at a time, you know. And I think if I had one, I'm so hyper and always trying to do three things at once, I'd be worse than he is or worse than she is. So I don't have one.

KING: So Hillary has got her BlackBerry out there in the Far East. But you won't communicate to her on your -- on any BlackBerry, you'll call her?

CLINTON: Yes, I call her. I talked to her yesterday morning. And it's tough now. See, this is the perfect time for BlackBerries, because she's in Japan, 14 hours ahead of me, East Coast time. So she was 17 hours ahead of me when I was back on the West Coast a couple of days ago.

BILL ON CHELSEA KING: All right, how is -- it's kind of strange. I mean you're a president. Your wife is a senator. Now she's a secretary of State. What's Chelsea going to be? I mean what -- where does it -- isn't it, for want of a better term than weird, isn't it kind of unusual?

CLINTON: Sure it is. But she's an unusual woman and a gifted one. And I'm very, very proud of her. And our daughter is, too. And I just want her to do whatever she finds rewarding and what makes her happy. But Chelsea has gone back -- she's in graduate school at Columbia now in public health. And she's always...

KING: Is she interested in government?

CLINTON: Yes, she's interested in government. She loved the private sector. She wanted to see how it worked. She did very well at McKenzie and when she worked at Avenue Capital, that she still does a little work with.

She's -- she's had a good life. But I think she really, really cares about health care. She cares about public health. She thinks that America has still got a ways to go to develop an affordable, high quality health care system. And I think she wants to be a part of it.

BILL ON WHAT MAKES A GOOD SECRETARY OF STATE KING: Everyone talks about Hillary and says what makes a good secretary of State?

CLINTON: I think first you have to have the confidence of a president and a good, open, honest and consistent way of communicating. They have that. They have a good relationship. Then I think the secretary of State needs to be a man or a woman who knows a lot about the world, has a view of where we are now and where we ought to be going and is comfortable implementing the strategy to get us there and using other strong people to help. I mean one of the issues for Hillary when she took office was, was it a good or bad thing for her to pick and for the president to approve envoys to the Middle East and to Pakistan and Afghanistan right away -- and to Iran and perhaps to some other places? And conventional wisdom says no, you ought to try to keep all the big stuff to yourself. She said no, because we have to do too many things at once and my job is to make sure we're moving on all tracks. So I think you have to understand the world, where we are, where we want to go and then be able to implement a strategy to get there.

BILL ON OBAMA AND FAMILY KING: Can he try to live like a normal person -- going home to Chicago, kids go to school, he helps take them to school, plays basketball, goes out to public restaurants?

CLINTON: Yes. I did quite a bit of it and I wish I had done even more. And I think that -- look, for example, when I want to play golf, some times I'd play five holes before I hit a decent shot because I couldn't stop thinking about what I was doing. You need -- the president needs a release, number one. Number two, the president needs friends and family. And number three, the president needs to know he's doing right by his daughters.

In their hearts of hearts, most fathers believe that raising their kids is their most important job, even presidents. And so we should be happy when he takes his children to school, because it then will free him up emotionally to be even more involved in the decisions of the presidency. If you know you've taken care of your kids, then you feel that your job can get your full attention.

KING: Because they're more important than the country -- I mean, when you get down to it.

CLINTON: Well, I don't know if he can say they're more important than the country, because there are so many of us. But I think most -- I once had -- you know, I think the only dispute I ever had with my daughter -- only one the whole time she was in high school. She was a magnificent child, I thought. But once we had a little argument. And I looked at her and I finally said, in exasperation, you have to understand I think the presidency is my second most important job. And pretty soon you'll be out of here making your own decisions. So just trust me, if I'm wrong, at least my heart's in the right place. And so it makes me happy every time I see him taking his kids to school.

3 comments:

PYW said...

I thought he was great, as usual. BTW, the video is now gone.

PYW said...

Wait, now it's there, lol. That was weird ...

Sarah said...

oh no! i hate when they disappear! agreed, bill was great.

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