Clintons creating new headaches for Obama

By Steve Holland - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two months after grudgingly admitting defeat, Democrat Hillary Clinton and her ex-president husband are causing new headaches for Barack Obama as he tries to focus on Republican rival John McCain.

Former President Bill Clinton raised eyebrows this week in a TV interview in which he refused to say Obama is qualified to be president other than meeting the constitutional requirement of being a natural-born citizen at least 35 years old.

"You could argue that nobody is ever ready to be president," Clinton said when pressed by ABC News on whether he thought Obama was qualified.

Then a video surfaced of Hillary Clinton saying at a California reception last week that her supporters deserve to have their voices heard at the Democratic convention beginning August 25 in Denver where Obama will formally be nominated as the party's candidate.

"Because I know from just what I'm hearing, that there's incredible pent-up desire," Clinton said in the video posted on YouTube. "And I think that people want to feel like, 'OK, it's a catharsis, we're here, we did it, and then everybody get behind Senator Obama.' That is what most people believe is the best way to go."

Clinton said she wanted Obama to be nominated by a unified convention, but her remarks left an impression she would not object if her supporters made a symbolic show of support by nominating her as the candidate, while knowing that the effort would fail.

Taken together, the Clintons' comments were evidence that some bitterness lingers two months after Clinton battled Obama to a near-draw, gave up her campaign and asked him to help her retire a multimillion dollar campaign debt.

Part of their frustration may well stem from signs that she has not been seriously considered by Obama as his vice presidential running mate, a job she did not close the door to after ceding defeat.