Hearing people I voted for on the radio: sighhhh

Remember a couple months back when I heard Barack Obama on public radio and totally swooned? Today, I sat in the car for an extra 10 minutes, shushing my kid, because Bill Clinton was being interviewed. Because many of you probably missed the interview, and because it's possible some of the content will make you swoon, herewith a summary:

re: Supreme Court nominee John Roberts—Bill says he strikes him as a good guy, but (and there has to be a "but") he has some concerns about his Reagan-administration work. Apparently there were instances when Roberts was to the right of his DOJ colleagues, and that can't be good.

re: Iraq—He doesn't agree with those calling for a withdrawal date to be set. He argues that setting a date is equivalent to saying "this effort can't succeed," and that the insurgents would then just wait for that date. The elections have already taken place, and the Iraqi constitution is in the midst of being written. He'd like to see the goals met before any pull-out plans are made. (Not swooning here; not sure how I feel on the subject.)

re: mortality—Since Bill's father died before he was born, he's always been more aware of his own mortality than other people. However, he was always "healthy as a horse," so he could push hard and work hard and not worry about it. When his heart surgery and lengthy recuperation came along, he was reminded again of that mortality thing, and it strengthened his resolve to do everything he can to make sure other people don't die unnecessarily. The American Heart Association asked him to capitalize on his situation to help raise awareness of heart disease, and he has opted to focus on the issue of childhood obesity. Also in the vein of preventing deaths, he's working on AIDS in Africa; currently some effort he's involved with (anyone know the name?) provides AIDS drugs to 110,000 people, with plans to cover 300,000.

re: Hillary—Will Hillary run for president? And does he want her to? First, Bill says, she has to win reelection to the Senate; if the folks in NY don't ratify her performance in office, there'd be no point running for president. Then (here comes the swooning) he went on and on about how gifted she is, a strong leader, so wise, gifted, wise, not to mention incredibly gifted, so it would be nice for the country if she served it. But selfishly, he says, he'd love for Hillary to have more time to relax and have fun. He gave her that 1,000 Places to See Before You Die book for Christmas, and there are plenty of places left for them to see together. Awww...

The interviewer wished Bill a happy birthday, though his 59th isn't until August 19. Gotta love a fellow Leo! Plus he's articulate, and it makes me so nostalgic to remember a time when we had an articulate president. (Will swoon for articulateness.)