Bill Clinton Will be Named UN Special Envoy to Haiti

Quake will delay but must not stop ongoing development efforts

(NEWSER) - Before “one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas” struck, Haiti had a "bright future," Bill Clinton writes. The 42nd president is a UN special envoy to the perennially troubled nation, where he has helped spearhead development efforts. Today, “what Haiti needs most is money for water, food, shelter and basic medical supplies to bring immediate relief to those who are homeless, hungry and hurt.” But the “plan for long-term development” cannot “be abandoned.” More»

(NEWSER) - Bill Clinton has officially been named UN special envoy to Haiti, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon awarded Clinton the $1-per-year post today, noting that “No one is better placed for this mission. He knows the country, he loves the people, and they love him.” Clinton will head a $350 million effort to help the impoverished island nation recover from last year’s devastating storms. More»

Pair lead separate lives focusing on same issues

(NEWSER) - Bill and Hillary Clinton live largely separate professional lives but still end up dealing with many of the same leaders and issues. The secretary of state, keen to avoid any accusations, downplays her husband's influence, but Team Clinton sometimes still works together. The couple's combined energies have paid off on projects like aid for Haiti and Third World development, the Washington Post reports. More»

First Lady didn't handle intel but was a presidential sounding board

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton spent her 8 years in the White House informally advising her husband and jetting around the world mediating social crises, the New York Times says, but the first lady had little direct experience with war or terrorism. She didn’t do “the heavy lifting of foreign policy,” snipes an ex-Clinton State Department official who’s now supporting Barack Obama. More»

Clintons denounce author Edward Klein as a 'known liar'

(NEWSER) - Bill Clinton considers Barack Obama such an "incompetent" president that he begged Hillary last summer to quit the State Department and run against him in 2012—or at least, that's the story a new, unauthorized Obama biography is telling. "Barack Obama is an amateur," Clinton is quoted as telling his wife in an excerpt from Edward Klein's new book, which appropriately is titled The Amateur. Hillary protests that she wants to make her mark on the State Department. "The country needs you!" Clinton counters. "The country needs us!" More»