2 hours, 28 minutes ago

Former President Bill Clinton has some words of wisdom for Todd Palin, the husband of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: “Give support,” but don’t “make her look weak.”

During an interview Tuesday with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, Clinton said, “I think the trick is, if you're a husband and the woman is in the role, the political role, traditionally identified by — with men, the trick is to give support that is unambiguous and clear and to also be there with advice privately, but to do it in a way that doesn't, in a funny way, make her look weak.”

The former president said Alaska’s “first dude” is doing “just fine” since being thrust into the national spotlight in late August.

But, Clinton said, “whenever you start changing the deck chairs and gender roles and family roles, you have to be prepared for psychological, as well as political sparks to fly.”

“Now, these role changes have happened a lot. You know, in '92, when I became president, Hillary was assaulted by some people for being too aggressive in giving advice. I was criticized for giving her a formal role in policymaking.”

As for dealing with the media — a constant problem for Clinton on campaign stops for his wife’s presidential run — the former president advised Palin to answer as best he can and move on.

“My advice to him is: Keep that smile. Don't get defensive,” Clinton said. “And you know, somebody asks you a question about whether you should or shouldn't have done something, try to answer it the best you can and go on.”

Clinton said the challenges of having a spouse run for office are “different” from those faced by a candidate, saying that attacks against his wife were “harder” to take.

“If you're just pulling for somebody and you think so highly of them and you think they're getting whacked unfairly and it's their job, then it's harder to take. So I'm going to be — you know, I'm sort of sympathetic with him navigating through this campaign and what he had to do in Alaska because I was right there in this election, and I've been right there since 2000, since Hillary first ran” for the Senate from New York.

“We went through brutal campaigns, you know, for a long, long time and learned to just treat it like water off a duck's back and have a good time. It's been very interesting, the different — the challenges of being a spouse.”

The former president said that he admires Todd Palin, saying that “he must have something going if he can finish that 500-mile race with a broken arm.”

“I can't get over it,” Clinton said of Palin’s snow machine racing. “I like it a lot.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080924/pl_politico/13831