Bill Clinton Isn't Standing in Hillary's Way, Democrats Say

Democrats are disputing reports that former President Bill Clinton has been slow to provide information about his finances to aides to Barack Obama who are vetting Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, for secretary of state.

A report in Politico.com Monday asserting that Democrats "are becoming exasperated" by Bill Clinton's "pokey" response is overblown, Democrats told FOX News.com Tuesday.

"The reports of frustration on either end and a slow pace are completely false," Maria Cardona, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton, told FOXNews.com. She noted that anyone intricately involved with the vetting process is barred by law from discuss these kinds of details.

"The people who really know about this are not talking privately or publicly," she said, dismissing the reports as rumors. "People are injecting drama into this because it is the Clintons."

Obama transition team spokeswoman Jen Psaki told FOX News it's "less likely than likely" that we will see the first Cabinet appointments this week, making it possible that more rumors will surface about the vetting process.

Despite Psaki's statement, it was widely reported Tuesday that Obama has chosen Eric Holder as his attorney general.

The New York Times reported Sunday that lawyers from Obama's camp were looking into the former president's dealings with foreign governments and pharmaceutical companies. Some political analysts believe that Bill Clinton's charitable affairs could cost his wife the Cabinet position or make it difficult for her to perform well if she is chosen.

"She can never shake Bill Clinton's sort of nefarious dealings," said Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute. "No one is even questioning what her faults are. Her baggage is her own husband."

Innocent said Hillary Clinton as secretary of state "makes herself an instant target" for Republicans and Democrats, leading to what she believes will be a tough confirmation hearing and a rocky tenure.

"It won't be pretty," she said.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, wonders why the vetting process is taking so long.

"The general belief is that she's got the job as long as Bill Clinton's finances and everything else can be worked out," he told FOX News.

"Well that's the problem is getting him to agree, I suppose, to releasing automatically all the donors to his library and foundation; agreeing not to take money from foreign governments for either the foundation or library. He makes speeches up to $400,000 or more, many of them abroad."

While Bill Clinton is not restricted from these activities as the spouse of the secretary of state, they must be disclosed, Sabato said.

"The Obama people want it disclosed. I think that's the key consideration here" he said. "They are worried about taking on some of the Clinton baggage or having that drama play out during the Obama administration.

"Remember, this administration was about change. And the change isn't just from Bush, it was also, during the primaries, from the Clinton administration.