In a surprisingly frank
interview with Charlie Rose on
his PBS show late Friday
night, former President Bill
Clinton declared that his wife
was not only far better
prepared to be president than
her chief rival Sen. Barack
Obama -- \'it's not even
close\' -- but that voters who
disagreed would be taking a
\'risk\' if they pick
more

In a surprisingly frank
interview with Charlie Rose on
his PBS show late Friday
night, former President Bill
Clinton declared that his wife
was not only far better
prepared to be president than
her chief rival Sen. Barack
Obama -- \'it's not even
close\' -- but that voters who
disagreed would be taking a
\'risk\' if they picked the
latter.

Repeatedly dismissive of Obama
-- which could come back to
haunt the Clinton campaign --
the former president at one
point said that voters were,
of course, free to pick
someone with little
experience, even, he said, \'a
television commentator\' who
would have just \'one year
less\' experience in national
office than Obama.

He praised Obama's
intelligence and \'sensational
political skills\' but
repeatedly suggested that,
unlike his wife and some of
the other candidates, he might
not be ready for the job.

Later he said that his friends
in the Republican party had
indicated that they felt his
wife would be the strongest
candidate, partly because she
had already been \'vetted\' --
another subtle slap at Obama.

Also: He said the most
important thing to judge was
who would be \'the best agent
for change\' not merely a
\'symbol for change....symbol
is not as important as
substance.\'

\'I guess I'm old fashioned,\'
he said, in wanting a
president who had actually
done things for people. He
said some people could
\'risk\' taking someone who
had served just a year in the
Senate if they chose.

He also repeatedly drew a
distinction between Obama's
focus on \'hope\' and his
wife's actual accomplishments.
If a call had gone out from
his wife's campaign to pull
back any critiques of Obama,
her husband clearly did not
get the memo.

Clinton did say that he gets
\'tickled\' watching Obama
because of his attractiveness
and political skills. \'I like
all these people,\' he said.
\'I have nothing bad to say
about him or anyone else.\'

Category Entertainment

Tags bill, clinton, hillary, barack, obama, charlie, rose, pbs, attack, negative, campaigning, experience, risk, senate, ready, republicans