Bill Clinton, aka 'President of the World'

Chris Matthews' glowing TV special focuses on years since office
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 21, 2011 6:35 PM CST
Bill Clinton, aka 'President of the World'
In a Sept. 28, 1995 file photo, President Bill Clinton speaks with Yassar Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a reception for Middle East leaders in Washington.   (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)

To most of us, he's "the former president," "Bill Clinton," or maybe "Bubba." But to Chris Matthews on this Presidents' Day, Clinton is President of the World, the name of his much ballyhooed, frenetic TV special airing tonight at 10pm. Taking a look at the decade since Clinton left office, Matthews, an ardent critic of Clinton's White House years, effusively declares his post-presidency to be unlike any other—an international star/humble humanitarian mash-up of Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Jimmy Carter, Politico reports.

Matthews sat down for a half-hour interview with Clinton; the special also features interviews with Tony Blair, John Podesta, celebs Kevin Spacey and Julia Ormond, and Clinton's biographers. “I was always tough on him,” Matthews says. “I thought he got what he deserved in terms of his behavior and dishonesty, but I’m judging the last 10 years. I think he ought to be judged on what he’s done since ’01.” (More Bill Clinton stories.)

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