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THE OVAL
Hillary: Bill and Barack are a lot alike
Martha Moore
When you work for one president while married to another, apparently you get to know them pretty well.
Hillary Rodham Clinton took the opportunity Tuesday to poke fun at both her husband and her former boss, introducing Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before their joint appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative.
Displaying chops earned through years of appearances on David Letterman's guest couch, Clinton came up with what is virtually a Top Ten list of ways Presidents 42 and 44 are alike:
• "They are both left-handed." (So are their former electoral opponents George H. W. Bush and John McCain.)
• "They both love golf, a game that does not often reciprocate the love they put into it." (Clinton is known to both curse and take multiple mulligans – known as "billigans." Obama's scores are top-secret, presumably for a reason.)
• "They both are fanatic sports fans and go to great lengths to be in front of the TV or on the side of the court or the field. " (Obama is a student of NCAA "bracketology,'' Clinton loves the NBA.)
• "They both are master politicians." (Given her role in Clinton's successful campaigns and her status as runner-up to Obama's, she's not likely to say otherwise.)
• "Each of them has only lost one election." (Actually, Clinton has lost two: he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1974 and he was defeated for reelection as governor of Arkansas in 1980. Obama ran for Congress from Illinois in 2000 but didn't make it past the Democratic primary.)
• "They are both Democrats."
• "They have fabulous daughters."
And the No. 1 thing that Obama and Clinton have in common, according to Hillary Clinton: "They each married far above themselves."
(Actually, Clinton ended her list by saying, "They each love our country." Undoubtedly true, but wouldn't have made the cut on Letterman.)
As noted, Mrs. Clinton also referred to Mr. Clinton and Obama as "No. 42" and "No. 44," their positions on the list of U.S. presidents -- stoking speculation as to whether she will seek to become "No. 45" in the 2016 presidential election.