When I heard that Bill Clinton was talking to NBC about becoming a TV talk show host, the first question that popped into my mind was: Will he be more like Oprah Winfrey — or Jerry Springer? Why not Jay Leno? He could be a terrific late-night host.

        After all, as Arkansas governor he launched his presidential campaign wearing shades and playing his saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show.

        Can't you picture him on a late-night talk show, seated at the desk, plugging his upcoming guests?

        “Tomorrow night, we'll have Ozzy Osbourne, Angelina Jolie and Hosni Mubarak. On Wednesday we'll have Brian Austin Green, Tom Green and Alan Greenspan. And join us Thursday for Blair Underwood, Linda Blair and Tony Blair.”

        Mr. Clinton would be a natural late-night talk host. He's quick-witted. He's charismatic.

        The camera loves this guy. So does the American public, despite his personal problems and White House scandals.

        At the White House Correspondents' dinner two years ago, he did 10 minutes of one-liners that had Mr. Leno, the keynote speaker, rolling on the floor. (Among his White House achievements, he said, was “supervising the vice president's invention of the Internet.”)

        Mr. Leno was awed by the commander-in-chief.

        “You know, if you weren't president, you'd be a great comedian. You have a good sense of timing,” Mr. Leno told Mr. Clinton at the dinner seen live on C-SPAN cable. “From one comic to another, you were really, really funny.”

        Asked how Mr. Clinton would do as a TV talk show host, Mr. Leno told me last year: “I think he'd be great. He's a great comic.”

        There's just one problem: Being a politician, his guests might never get to say one word. In fact, his opening monologues could take the entire hour. (Remember his State of the Union speeches?)

        Mr. Clinton's interest in TV should come as no surprise, as the lines between politics and show business continue to blur.

        Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes hosts a nightly MSNBC talk show. Former White House adviser George Stephanopoulos works for ABC News and sometimes co-hosts Good Morning America.

        Presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole addressed the 1996 Republican National Convention by strolling through the audience like a daytime talk show host. Her performance prompted CBS' Dan Rather to remark: “I'm not sure whether it was a full Oprah, or a half Sally Jessy.”

        And of course former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer used politics as a springboard into television and ultimately hosting a national show. Ronald Reagan used show business as a springboard into the California governor's mansion and the White House.

        Mr. Springer says the skills needed to be a TV talk host were learned as a Cincinnati politician in the 1970s, not as a WLWT-TV (Channel 5) news anchor in the 1980s.

        “You have to be able to think on your feet, without a TelePrompter. You have to know how to work a crowd,” Mr. Springer says.

        “Clinton is articulate. He's a great listener. He can talk about any subject in the world. He'd be incredible at it. But I can't imagine him doing it,” says Mr. Springer, a Democrat who admired Mr. Clinton's presidency.

        Of all the choices, a late-night show seems to be the obvious choice for Mr. Clinton.

        Let's be honest: the salacious subject matter on daytime TV cuts too close to the Oval Office. He's not someone that Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones or Monica Lewinsky would pour out their hearts to on national TV, is he?

        Shows about infidelity, sex addition, crazy relatives, sour business deals, and the lack of ethics or morals would seem like some nightmarish rerun.

        On the other hand, I'd bet he'd be more compelling on daytime TV than recent failures by Gordon Elliott, Lauren Hutton, George Hamilton, Carnie Wilson, Vicki Lawrence, Tempestt Bledsoe and Howie Mandel.

        Mr. Clinton's name also was mentioned among the possible replacements for Bryant Gumbel on CBS' The Early Show. But I can't see him there, next to Jane Clayson, giddily chatting it up with the latest person voted off Survivor. (“I feel your pain!”)

        Of course, he would be best suited for a political talk show, though that's apparently off limits because of potential conflicts of interest for his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

        Certainly he would elevate the level of political discourse from the “shout shows” on cable hosted by Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and others. And he'd be more lively than Jeff Greenfield or Aaron Brown.

        “If he could talk politics, what a wonderful way to bring it off cable and onto network television,” Mr. Springer says.

        “The truth is: He'd become a (political) force. I think he'd have an incredible audience. Imagine him on, one hour every day, giving his opinions.”

        It would drive the Bush administration nuts — like what Rush Limbaugh and conservative commentators did to the Clinton administration for eight years.

        “I'm not surprised that someone at a network level is thinking: What a great host he would be!” Mr. Springer says. But if he can't talk politics, Mr. Springer says, “then it's a total waste of his talent.”

        I disagree. Mr. Clinton, our most savvy media president, could be the politically correct late-night TV alternative.

        It would be worth watching just to hear him say:

        “Next week, my guests include Tom Brokaw, Tom Arnold, Tom Daschle, Natalie Portman, Rob Portman, Erin Moran, Aaron Carter, Ariel Sharon, Phil Spector, Arlen Specter, and a very special duet by John Mellencamp and John Ashcroft.”

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/kiese

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