Bill Clinton On Bloomberg TV: Roberts, Climate Change, China, Iraq

Bill Clinton On Bloomberg TV: Roberts, Climate Change, China, Iraq

NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In a one-on-one interview with Bloomberg Television(R), former United States President Bill Clinton spoke to Bloomberg News(R) Managing Editor Al Hunt about Supreme Court nominee Judge Roberts, climate change, China and the war in Iraq.

In the wide-ranging interview on Bloomberg Television, Clinton praised Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts as "highly intelligent," while voicing reservations about a memo Roberts wrote in 1984 that called for stripping the high court of some of its power. "I don't think we should in any way prejudge Judge Roberts," Clinton said. "He is a very impressive man." Clinton also said that the Senate should explore the memo Roberts wrote as a lawyer in the Reagan administration, in which Roberts argued that Congress should be allowed to bar courts from ordering busing to desegregate schools.

Clinton spoke with Bloomberg News about the need to address global climate change, as well as the need for the United States to be patient with China. Clinton told Al Hunt of Bloomberg News, "I don't think we should in any way try to inhibit China's economic emergence." However, Clinton added that the currency relationship between the U.S. and China is "complicated," and that "we have to be careful what we wish for."

On finding new alternative energy sources Clinton said that talks with energy company officials convince him that America's business leaders are committed to seeking alternative, environmentally-friendly sources of fuel. "The key is actually discarding the idea that has dominated economic policy making, which is: In order for a country to get rich, stay rich and get richer, you have to put more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That isn't true and it hasn't been true for years," Clinton said. "The time has come to move on this, and I see a lot of forces converging."

During the Bloomberg Television interview, Clinton spoke critically of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and for running high budget deficits. "It is wrong for us to conduct a war where I, Bill Clinton, who now makes a lot of money, was not asked to make a commitment. Instead, I opened four envelopes that had tax cuts. That's wrong." On the budget, Clinton told Bloomberg Television: "Every country in the end pays a price for fiscal irresponsibility. But some countries have longer periods of self-indulgence than others." Clinton said that Bush's tax cuts have deprived the U.S. of revenue that could be used to shore up the Social Security system, and that continuing deficits will eventually be punished with a recession. "I think it's a mistake," he told Bloomberg Television.

Clinton also discussed his upcoming global forum, stating that he has asked all participants to come fully prepared and willing to make a commitment to change. "I have asked everyone who comes to be committed to take action in one of the four areas where we are trying to improve the situation," Clinton said. "At the end, I want everyone to fill in a little card saying, 'This is what I will be doing in the coming year,' and then I want them to report back." A number of the world's leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, King Abdullah II of Jordan, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have committed to attend, Clinton told Bloomberg Television.

The entire interview will be repeated throughout the day on Wednesday, August 3rd on Bloomberg Television and will be available to users of the Bloomberg Professional(R) service via AV < GO > in its entirety both at the time it airs and as an archived video file.

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Source: Bloomberg

CONTACT: Jeffrey Weir of Sloane & Company, +1-212-446-1892, jweir@sloanepr.com, for Bloomberg

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