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Former President's must-see interview with Jon Stewart earns high praise from viewers who want Obama and the Democrats to pay attention.

BY JEANETTE FRIEDMAN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

President Bill Clinton's Thursday night visit with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's The Daily Show was buried in the brouhaha over Stewart's and colleague Stephen Colbert's (the Jersey boys) call to the Mall for the "Rally for Sanity/Keep Fear Alive. " The extended interview, posted on the show's website, www.thedailyshow.com, reveals, according to more than 98% of those who watched it, Clinton at his wonkiest/political/inspirational best.

Although he came to highlight the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a mega-convention of world leaders, corporate CEOS, and "just folks who care" being held in New York from September 21-23. (www.clintonglobalinitiative.org), he used Stewart's unconventional platform to clarify the issues facing the American people, and gave the Democrats, the President and his advisors some common sense advice — if they wanted to ace the mid-term elections and possibly get Obama reelected in 2012.

He also told viewers that there are now 5 million jobs available in America, but the American people don't have the skills to fill those jobs and offered reasonable-sounding solutions to the overwhelming problem of unemployment and the other massive problems America faces. He made it seem almost easy.

Noting that he was never into sound bites, Clinton's advice to the Democrats — Tell Americans they have the right to be angry, tell them to give you two more years to pull the country out of the hole, and then, if the party doesn't don't succeed, you can throw them out. But, he explained to the viewers, it took a long time to dig that hole and to have expected someone to solve all the problems in just two years was not realistic.

The wide-ranging interview covered everything from Chelsea's wedding (which he joked was his personal stimulus package) to the health care bill. He said Americans spend more than any other western country on health care (17% to the others' 10%) and get the least for the money, with infant death rates climbing, and services falling. He pointed out that health care insurance companies' premiums skyrocketed while they were throwing people off their rolls and into Medicaid and other federal- and state-funded programs, while complaining about "big government." He also said that while other businesses were failing last year, health insurance company profits increased beyond 25%.

His command of statistics and detailed awed Stewart, who wondered out loud if Clinton had room in his brain for sports stats.

It was clear from watching the show and reading the comments online, that viewers believe the White House and the Democratic National Committee would benefit greatly from watching all the clips and should pay attention to Clinton's approach and ideas. Many wished that Clinton be permitted to run for president again, and barring that, suggested he become chairman of the DNC. Others feel he should bring his views to the American people by doing the spin shows on network and cable, and hope he will speak at the "Rally for Sanity" on October 30.

Clinton has not been resting on his laurels, busy as he is with CGI, an outgrowth of the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation. According to the CGI website, since 2005, CGI has raised $57 billion that has been put to use around the globe to improve the lives of more than 200 million people. For more information see www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.