Former President Clinton interested in becoming UN Secretary-General

[46Driver]

Just when you think you've seen it all.....

Analysis: Clinton eyes U.N. post

By ROLAND FLAMINI, UPI Chief International Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has set his sights on becoming U.N. secretary-general. A Clinton insider and a senior U.N. source have told United Press International the 56-year-old former president would like to be named leader of the world body when Kofi Annan's term ends early in 2006.

"He definitely wants to do it," the Clinton insider said this week.

A Clinton candidacy is likely to receive overwhelming support from U.N. member states, particularly the Third World. Diplomats in Washington say Clinton would galvanize the United Nations and give an enormous boost to its prestige. But the former president's hopes hang on a crucial question that will not be addressed until after the presidential elections: can he get the support of the U.S. government -- a prerequisite for nomination?

The political wisdom is that a second George W. Bush presidency would cut him off at the pass. The notion of Clinton looming large in the international arena from "the glass tower" in New York would be intolerable to the Bush White House. If Democratic candidate, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wins on Nov. 2 the prospect of Clinton as secretary-general won't exactly be welcome either, but Kerry would find it much harder -- if not impossible -- to go against it.

After a Middle East U.N. Secretary General (Boutros Boutros Ghali) and an African (Kofi Annan) it is generally considered Asia's turn to fill the post, U.N. experts say. No announcement has been made, but behind the scenes China is already pushing the candidacy of Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who also seems to have U.S. support. If Clinton does emerge as a candidate, however, China would most likely shift its support, the experts say.

No American has ever been U.N. secretary-general, but the United States is both host country to the United Nations and the major contributor to its budget. A hostile U.S. Congress held up its dues for years -- until the Clinton administration negotiated a payment plan for Washington's arrears. Clinton also revived U.S. membership of UNESCO though the Americans did not actually move back into their offices at the Paris-based scientific and cultural U.N. agency until after the start of the Bush presidency.

President Reagan had taken the United States out of UNESCO in protest against alleged corruption by former top agency officials.

 

[nittany03]

Oh dear God. No. Please no.

 

[bch]

ROFLMO, that is all I can come up with.

 

[d_bossart]

John Kerry sueing no matter what the election results are, Hillary eyeing the 2008 elections, and Billy wanting to be sec gen. Hmmm, vast left wing conspiracy? Not that I think he could be any worse than the current Sec Gen.

 

[Clux4]

It is the great plan for liberalising America. Welcome to the start of the leftish rain !

 

[bmcnamara]

Dear God, Clinton's eight year reign of terror was bad enough. The UN does us no good anyway. I'm all for leaving the UN, the only thing they keep us around for anyway is for the money and material we give them, otherwise that organization hates us. Not like the permanent members (with the exception of Britain) support our war on terror anyway.

 

[phrogdriver]

Apparently the Dems are starting a policy of lousy Presidents trying to redeem their places in history by staying in the public eye after leaving office. Witness Jimmy Carter, who people call our "greatest ex-President." Can't they just shut up? Being President is surely about the capstone of your life. Write some books and let it be. You don't see Gerald Ford and George HW Bush mugging for TV cameras.

 

[eddie]

Poor, poor Jimmy Carter, what an unfortunate man...

I mean really, with a reputation like his, ya' gotta have some symptathy.

BTW, anyone on Earth (liberal or otherwise!!) could see that Clinton as Secretary General is the kind of thing that would show up in future spoof-films about our time. I mean, come on, Willy, running the UN! The way I look at it, that's too big of a bad joke to ever come true.

 

[Yeahitsme]

Why do you hate Clinton....considering he never got us into a war he lied about and he raised the standard of living in the US while balancing the budget, you think you rightwingers might like him. Oh wait...you like Republican policies of getting us involved in crap we should stay out of, giving tax breaks to the richest 5 percent(or is 1 percent, dang statistics) and making sure we lose a multi trillion dollar surlpus...and create a multi tillion dollar deficit...you guys are on the ball.

 

[Yeahitsme]

And Clinton is one of the more diplomatic people that have emerged from the partisan 1990's......you have any better American candidates for Sec Gen???? He would be the first American to hold the post, and we should rally behind him.

 

[Dunedan]

The political wisdom is that a second George W. Bush presidency would cut him off at the pass. The notion of Clinton looming large in the international arena from "the glass tower" in New York would be intolerable to the Bush White House. If Democratic candidate, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wins on Nov. 2 the prospect of Clinton as secretary-general won't exactly be welcome either, but Kerry would find it much harder -- if not impossible -- to go against it.

This sounds like a story that is intended to get more votes for Kerry, ie., if Bush wins, the US will lose a lot of prestige in the UN. Almost as bad as the "grandma's gonna lose her social security", "minorities are gonna be disenfranchised" and "there's gonna be a draft" if Bush wins tactics.

 

[Dunedan]

Why do you hate Clinton....considering he never got us into a war he lied about and he raised the standard of living in the US while balancing the budget, you think you rightwingers might like him. Oh wait...you like Republican policies of getting us involved in crap we should stay out of, giving tax breaks to the richest 5 percent(or is 1 percent, dang statistics) and making sure we lose a multi trillion dollar surlpus...and create a multi tillion dollar deficit...you guys are on the ball.

You didn't pay very close attention, did you...

 

[gagirl]

Yeah, it's me.....

You've got to be kidding and I pray you are. I can't imagine that anyone would think so highly of a non inhaling pot smokin',draft dodging, adulterer!!!!
He looked right into the camera and LIED to the American people about Monica or was that Jennifer or Paula or.....

He used the oval office for other things besides going after those responsible for the 1st Twin Tower attack, the Khobar towers, the 2 embassy bombings and the USS COLE in 2000. A short time after that Bush came in office and then 9/11. Don't you think if Clinton had had the balls to go after these guys the terrorists wouldn't have been brave enough to TRY 9/11??? With so many attacks and no retaliation no wonder they thought it would be easy to pull off 9/11. Now, we finally have a man with big enough balls to stand up and fight and when the going gets tough the weak get their panties in a wad.

Bush has brought dignity, honor and respect back to the White House. Things are tough in Iraq. I don't remember him saying things would be easy. War never is. I'm sure the terrorists love seeing this country split and not all behind Bush. Whether you agree or not I think this country should show it's united in fighting terror. Who cares if we didn't find WMD's. You know he's used them on his own people and after giving Saddam all these chances and waiting around for him to act I bet he hid them or got rid of them. Syria is right there and God only knows they could be buried. He needed to go.

Clinton is and was a disgrace. Kerry would be even worse. I can't decide if the wives are worse than the men. Kerry is so far out there it's scary. Don't think the military will be getting a raise anytime soon with Kerry. He hasn't voted for anything positive regarding the military. Four months and all those medals in Vietnam. It's a flip flop thing again. He went to Vietnam and recieved 3 purple hearts and came home unlike Ollie North who gave his up so he could stay. Kerry then comes home and throws the medals away while the guys he fought with are still there. He supports the war and fights and comes home and is against it. Isn't that a shock? Just a lot of men suffered for his actions. (POWS etc)
There's no telling what would happen with Supreme Court either. That's scary.

I pray Bush wins. We need to fully support him and get our troops home. He loves his troops and you can see it. Kerry could give a rats a$$. At least that's my opinion.
Have a great night.
gagirl

Also, I believe the economy is cyclical and was headed down at the end of the Clinton regime. It was over inflated and bound to come down.
It's also pretty sad that Kerry needs Clinton to come out and campaign for him. Tax breaks....don't you think you pay enough in taxes? For those of us with kids the $1000 per child is great. The gov't gets enough of our damn money.
And just for fun... Bush has given more jobs in his cabinet to more minorities and given more to minorities than Clinton ever did. Even more to AIDS relief than Clinton.

 

[bmcnamara]

Don't forget that Kerry's claim that the tax cuts only went to that one or two percent that are "wealthy" includes small business owners and the like. If you tax the hell out of the businesses then who is going to hire people? The government can't pay for everyone to be on a wellfare system. The president's tax cuts worked, that is a fact, to buy into Kerry's claims is both naive and shows one's lack of knowledge on the issue altogether.

Any economist will tell you that the economy was going into a recession around the time President Bush took office, that means that Clinton's policies were still in effect. Of course prior to President Bush's economic plan taking effect 9/11 happened, then we had to fight two wars in order to protect ourselves. We should have been this involved in the war on terror back in the 90s but because Clinton was too busy with his interns, and not focused on the growing threat on our country from abroad. We need to get out of the UN immediately, they are only a hindrance to our national security. If Clinton wants to be the secretary general, that is fine, he can move to France. He will be loved there, and besides, he is just as big of an arrogant coward as them so he should fit right in.

To Yeah, it's me,
We do not need an American UN secretary general, we have a great President that is in charge of the greatest military the world has ever seen. I do not understand why you liberals can hate a man that actually has integrity and actually respects the office he holds, unlike your "beloved" Clinton who disgraced the Oval Office and this country because he can't keep himself off of other women. I understand he needed love from someone since Hillary obviously has none, but that is no excuse for his lack of integrity. Also, an American secretary general will be no more effective than Kofi Anan since most of the world hates us. But who cares? Those countries that truly matter in the world are allied with us, and will continue to be as long as a traitor like Kerry (who by the way, is more liberal than Ted Kennedy) is not in office.

 

[Red2]

If I recall from Foreign Policy 101 (and that's going back four years), the Secretary General cannot be a citizen of a nation that is a permanent member of the Security Council. That would eliminate Clinton, unless he changed his citizenship. Hmmm, maybe he could move to the Netherlands and smoke all the pot he wants.