Vanity Fair: Bill Pushing for Kerry-Hillary Ticket

What does a young and healthy former president do in retirement?

Urge his wife to run for president – or vice president.

So suggests the June edition of Vanity Fair in its detailed profile of post-president Bill Clinton.

We recently noted that Vanity Fair credited NewsMax.com for Clinton's 9/11 woes – emanating from his own taped admission that he could have captured Osama bin Laden, but didn't.

Like the cat with nine lives, Clinton has weathered that storm – and is still angling to get back into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Stories – many published from liberal outlets and sourcing friends of the Clintons – have circulated for some time that Hillary would throw her hat into the Democratic race.

According to the magazine, these stories have been largely fueled by husband Bill, not Hillary.

VF reports that during the Democratic primaries, Clinton had to insert himself into the race and that "Clinton's most intimate whisperings were for a politician not in the race: his wife.”

Interestingly, his efforts to draft his wife may not have been wholly supported by Sen. Clinton herself – but by a rogue husband with a lot of time on his hands.

When it became clear that Mrs. Clinton would not enter the primaries, Clinton threw his full weight behind former general Wesley Clark. Clinton also became a fierce opponent of John Kerry.

Now that Kerry has clinched the nomination, Kerry has called a truce and has turned to the former president for advice. Surely, that's deft political maneuvering on Kerry's part.

While sources indicate that Mrs. Clinton firmly does not want the VP spot with Kerry, husband Bill continues to advocate otherwise.

According to VF, John Kerry "has become [Clinton’s] weekly phone pal."

During these calls, the magazine says, Clinton continues to push for either Hillary, who he says will make "the dream team" with Kerry, or for Clark for the VP slot.

So far, Kerry hasn't bitten on the offer. Nor is there any indication that Hillary would take the spot if offered.

VF says Bill Clinton's life has turned out to be a "strange trip" for a man "who had a plan for every move the first half of his life – and came to the second half without one."

Clinton is unfazed by the many scandals that dominated his presidency. "Ken Starr spent $70 million to find out I'm a sinner. You could have told him that for a free," Clinton says.

Clinton regrets the Marc Rich pardon, which continues to plague his legacy. Still, a friend tells VF, Clinton blames a "right-wing conspiracy" for the public outcry.

Even VF found that laughable because of the many liberal establishment outlets, such as the New York Times, that harshly criticized Clinton for his pardon of fugitive Rich.

Clinton has launched a PR offensive of sorts to rehabilitate himself – namely, helping poorer nations, particularly in Africa, obtain drugs for their AIDS patients.

The effort is laudable – and so is the fact that Clinton has not been anything like Jimmy Carter, who has become an apologist for dictators and tyrants, and a one-man State Department with an ultra-left agenda. We can be thankful for small things.

Editor's note: