Bill Clinton on David Letterman: Did blinks show Hillary's secret 2016 plans?
| WASHINGTON
Bill Clinton was and Letterman tried his darndest to get the ex-president to spill Hillary Rodham Clinton鈥檚 deepest secret: whether she鈥檚 planning to run for the White House in 2016.
鈥淥f course you know,鈥� scoffed Mr. Letterman at one point. Then he looked directly at Clinton and said, 鈥淚f she is running, to your knowledge, blink twice."
Clinton laughed and stared back. His eyes appeared to water for a moment.
鈥淚 blinked once!鈥� he insisted.
What does that mean? She鈥檚 not running? She鈥檚 running in 2020? Six more weeks of summer weather?
What it means is that he does not know what Hillary is going to do, Chelsea does not know what Hillary is going to do, and Hillary does not know what Hillary is going to do, according to Bill. Then, he got a bit more serious and said that politics has gone crazy, and that when he ran for president in 1992 he did not declare until 13 months ahead of time.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go out and do a bunch of stuff in advance, either,鈥� he said.
Well, maybe not, but knowing Bill Clinton, he had his whole campaign mapped out years ahead of time in his head. If it were him thinking about 2016, he鈥檇 already be drawing up lists of potential Cabinet picks 鈥� for his second term.
Anyway, Clinton also pointed out that his wife is writing a book, they鈥檙e enjoying going to movies like regular people, and so forth. Letterman thought this over for a second and then said, 鈥淲ell, you could finish her book."
鈥淚 could,鈥� agreed Clinton.
The 鈥淟ate Show鈥� wasn鈥檛 Clinton鈥檚 only big media appearance this week, by the way. On PBS's "News Hour" Monday, he talked with anchor Judy Woodruff.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not nearly as political as everyone thinks we are,鈥� Clinton told her.
The plethora of Bill appearances is because he鈥檚 promoting his big Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, which gathers important figures from President Obama on down to talk big issues and good works.
Also, there appears to be networking at CGI. Earlier this week, about former Bill Clinton counselor Doug Band. It details how Mr. Band鈥檚 work for Clinton鈥檚 foundation coincided with Band鈥檚 development of clients for his own lucrative business consulting career.
While the story raises no red flags about Bill or Hillary Clinton per se, it鈥檚 still not necessarily a good thing in terms of Hillary鈥檚 political future,
鈥淚t could open the door to focus on the many people in the extended Clinton orbit who, over many years, have staked their livelihoods on the political fortunes of the former first couple,鈥� Ms. Haberman writes.
Meanwhile, Bill defended his former aide in an appearance on CBS's "This Morning" Tuesday.
"There's nothing wrong with him starting a business with people he met working for me," said Clinton.
