Master of All He Surveys - Bill Clinton's Big TV Day

September 23, 4:22 AMPop Culture ExaminerDominic Patten

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"You don't believe me but , it was this big,"  (ABC)

We all know he loves the camera but it is so easy to forget how good he can be in front of it. Especially after a day like Monday.

First thing that morning, former President Bill Clinton hit The View for the very first time to promote his latest Global Initiative meeting in conjunction with the U.N.s annual get together. But that's not what Bawa and the ladies wanted to talk about. They wanted to talk about Hilary. And the big guy didn't let them down - plus he even had some fashion advice. 

You can see the whole View interview here

Ponderous and then punchy, Clinton laid out why Hilary should have been Barack Obama's pick for VP, but it doesn't matter because she didn't really want it and the former White House residents like Joe Biden enough anyway. 

"It's a very personal decision who should be vice president. I like Sen. Biden a lot. I think he was a good choice. [Hillary Clinton] would have been the best politically at least in the short run because of her enormous support in the country," said the former Commander-in-Chief.

"She said, 'if [Obama] asks, I'll do it, because it's my duty," Clinton told the morning show. 

Hold on, is this the same Senator who was pretty much letting everyone know she wanted the gig in June? Is this another one of those Clinton re-writings of history?

Playing that elder statesman role he loves so much, the Democrat rose himself above the fray in the contest between Barack Obama, whose name the former President always seems hesitant to actually say, and John McCain.  “I've made everyone in the world mad in this election,” he said. “But I genuinely like both of them. I genuinely admire both of them. I think we make a terrible mistake believing we have to find something wrong with the people we can't vote for.”

Both Senators, along with dozens of other presents and past leaders from around the world and Bono and Barbara Streisand, are participating in the former President's conference over the next few days. John McCain will be giving the opening remarks at the "Integrated Solutions: Water, Food and Energy" plenary session.  Barack Obama will address the meeting via satellite.

After The View, Clinton charmed an invited group of journalists on Monday before heading over to hang with David Letterman where he repeated a lot of the punchlines he used on camera earlier and gave a tutorial on what's ailing the economy. 

It was weird how Bill, who only got lobbed softballs by Dave, keep looking at his watch throughout the interview. 

By the time it was over and Letterman was back from commercial, Clinton was working the line outside Dave's studio.

Truth be told, Bill Clinton, who used to be solid fun, has become a bit of bore. He's like Lyndon Johnson pulling back his Texas accent and salty language, never wanting to let his real "Saturday Night Bill" out for fear it'll embarrass his "Sunday Morning William." 

Thankfully Chris Rock followed Bill Clinton on Letterman and spoke some truth about former power.

"Is it me," asked Rock about Clinton's chat with Dave, "or did he not want to say the words 'Barack Obama?"

The comedian also pointed out what everybody else seemed hesitant to tell Bill when he started going on about policies his wife supports  "Hilary ain't running! One of those guys needs to tell him. I love Hillary but she lost. She got a lot of votes she lost. The Patriots got a lot of points too, but they lost to the Giants."

Tuesday night John McCain joins his old friend Dave for his first Late Night visit since officially getting the GOP nomination.

Later this week Bill Clinton hits The Daily Show and Larry King. The former will likely be overly respectful and the latter will, depending if "Awake Larry" or "Out of It Larry" shows up, be either banal or bizarre.