Bill Clinton: no plans for future office

I'd like to see William Clinton as Secretary of State---the perfect post-presidential job for him---and the world would benefit from his skills.
---BBB

Bill Clinton: no plans for future office
The Associated Press
March 9, 2004, 1:09 PM EST

Former President Bill Clinton is not running for mayor of New York because one Clinton in office is enough and private life is "a hoot," he said Tuesday.

Plus, he said, the city produces plenty of talented candidates.

The 2005 race is expected to be crowded with Democrats.

"I'd love to be mayor of New York, it's probably the second-best job in America, but there are lots of good people who want to be mayor of New York, and they should have their chance," Clinton told business leaders at a breakfast meeting in Manhattan, in response to a question from the audience.

"I can't imagine the circumstances under which it would be something I would consider -- I think Hillary's doing a good job, and one of us in politics is probably more than enough," he said.

Clinton said he prefers to dedicate his time to his presidential foundation projects, which promote economic development, education, AIDS initiatives and reconciliation in troubled regions. Clinton founded the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation after leaving the White House, and opened an office in Harlem.

"I like being out of office ... I get to talk to people the way they talked to me for 30 years," he said. "It's a hoot."

In addition to his foundation work, Clinton is also trying to finish his memoirs. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, reportedly paid him an advance of more than $10 million.

Clinton works on the memoirs at his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., a suburb of New York City.

"It's a strange thing, sitting there," writing the book, he said. "It was hard enough living my life the first time."

A Clinton representative, Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, said Tuesday that they hope to publish the book this year. Clinton is also expected this year to campaign for the Democratic presidential nominee, and said he wants to see smart, rigorous political debates without childish name-calling before the November election.

"I hope they have brawling arguments, but I hope that it clarifies the choice instead of demonizing the candidate," he said.

Clinton said he's not optimistic that the Bush administration will meet its June 30 timetable for transferring political control to Iraq, but said it does no good to criticize President Bush.

"If this political campaign is about what we were told about weapons of mass destruction, that's a legitimate political issue, but we are where we are," he said. "And if the president cannot keep the timetable that he said, I don't think we ought to give him any grief about it. I think we ought to say, 'let's just follow through." '