Guess who just bobbed to the surface smack dab in the middle of the Dubai ports deal? Why, none other than Slick Willie. That’s right, we now learn that Big Bill Clinton was on the phone a couple of weeks ago offering the monarchs of Dubai some free advice on how to slip their ports management deal by a rather skeptical, if not dumbfounded, American public.

Clinton was offering his sage counsel in private at the time that his wife, in public, was denouncing the deal. American politics hasn’t seen such a cynical duo since the advent of the Carville-Matalin spectacle.

The former president’s paid flacks are now trying give this all an innocuous spin: "President Clinton is the former president of the US and as such receives many calls from world leaders and leading figures every week," said his official spokesman. And, we’re further told, Clinton was a good Boy Scout and earnestly advised the Emirs to submit to any and all reviews that might be asked of them. (There’s no report he was biting his lip or crossing his fingers behind his back as he chatted up our royal buddies).

What Clinton didn’t say, obviously, is that the whole thing stinks and that the Emirates should simply withdraw the deal.

How will any of this play out politically? Guess it depends on what your definition of a schmo is.