Clinton fails to silence talk husband Bill craves job of envoy to Ireland

Is Ireland big enough for Bill Clinton?

The chatter about what Mr. Clinton might do next has often tended towards the grandiose. In the past, there was talk of making an exception just this once and nominating the former United States president to serve as United Nations secretary general. (No American has ever served in that post.)

More recently, Clinton - who served successfully as unofficial explainer-in-chief in President Barack Obama's re-election campaign - has emerged as the darling candidate of some Middle East experts, should Obama decide to name a special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But now come the Washington rumours that what Clinton may really covet is the US ambassadorship to Ireland.

The speculation stems in part from a recent quip from Clinton, who noted while on his third trip this year to the Emerald Isle in November that "I could run for president of Ireland" if only he owned a home there. (Clinton, born William Jefferson Blythe, is of Irish ancestry.) Those stoking the rumour fires note that Clinton can probably get just about anything he wants from a grateful Obama.

Those fires roared with new kindling when Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, sidestepped an opportunity to douse the rumours while on a stop of her own last week in - where else, Ireland.

"I cannot comment on what President Obama might do in the second term, it's his decision," Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, while in Dublin to attend a European security conference. "But I would think that my husband will be here many times in the future and doing the work that he has been doing without having the title of ambassador."