"I THINK Barack Obama will be the next president. I think he will win. Because whatever feelings the American people have about their own conditions and however much they may wish he had moved more quickly, I think they will conclude that it takes a long time to get out of the kind of economic distress we're in and his policies and direction are more likely to move us out of that."

That's former president Bill Clinton talking to Esquire magazine. Clinton is on the front, looking handsome, healthy and statesmanlike. The cover states" Bill Clinton and 78 Other Things We Can All Agree On."

Mr. Clinton's support is important. Despite the harrowingly amusing chaos that is the GOP, President Obama will need help, even with the jobs and unemployment numbers inching up. As the general election nears, it says a lot that, despite Obama's stated disapproval of super PACs, he has given in and will allow them to throw money his way.

Clinton also remarks at one point, "I was just watching MSNBC ... and I was laughing and I said, 'Boy, it really has become our version of Fox!'"

If only. Fox remains the most powerful cable news organization, and they have all their ducks in a row regimented to deliver the party line, smoothly. MSNBC remains a mash-up, despite the presence of Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. However, over the past two years, MSNBC's "Morning Joe" -- headed by conservative Joe Scarborough -- has improved a great deal, though the intelligent Mika Brzezinski is still too often relegated to house mothering her brood of frat boys.

Anyway, read Esquire for Bill Clinton's super-smart, reasonable take on ... everything. He is an impressive figure.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE admitted he was "a little miffed" that the final "Harry Potter" movie was excluded from major Oscar nominations. He said, "I was watching 'Hugo' and I thought, 'Why didn't we get anything?'" ("Hugo" is Martin Scorsese's first film aimed at a young audience. And it's 3-D, too. It collected 11 Oscar nominations.)

Well, no offense to the great Mr. Scorsese, or "Hugo," but I have to agree with Daniel. The final "Potter" outing was the best by far, and if nothing else, Alan Rickman's performance as Severus Snape is brilliant -- as Mr. Rickman was in all seven of the "Potter" movies.

But I doubt Daniel will dwell too long on his disappointment. He had a nice weekend with his latest movie, the pleasantly old-fashioned Victorian thriller, "The Woman in Black," which took in a surprising $20 million.

SPEAKING OF things "Harry Potter," I chatted with a pal the other day, and the subject came around to the big British hit, "Downton Abbey" and Maggie Smith, who plays the Dowager Countess of Grantham in her inimitable wicked, witty fashion. (Miss Smith played the beloved Minerva McGonagall in the "Potter" films.)

My friend said, "Isn't it a pity how Maggie has aged?" I was startled. Maggie Smith is well into her 70s, has resisted "procedures," and was terribly ill a couple of years back. I think she looks great -- bone structure like that defies the years. The conversation was made amusing, and my surprise compounded by the fact that my friend is no spring chicken himself.

"HELLO, Flo?"

What movie maven worth his salt doesn't recognize those two famous words, from the Luise Rainer telephone scene in 1936's "The Great Ziegfeld"? Rainer would win a best actress Oscar for that turn as Broadway producer Ziegfeld's first wife, and the very next year would win again, playing a Chinese peasant in "The Good Earth." Katharine Hepburn is the only actress to match that, winning the top award in 1968 and '69.

Rainer is now 102 years old and lives in London. I haven't seen her since she was 90 but I'll never forget her charm. She rarely gives interviews, but Entertainment Weekly's Bob Brunner managed to cajole a few things out of her, for EW's Oscar issue. Rainer says the last film she saw was "The Artist," which she found "most inventive."

But I like best the tale of her decision to leave Hollywood in 1938, after her two Oscar wins.

She told MGM's Louis B. Mayer, "I need to find my soul." He replied: "What do you need a soul for? You've got a director." When Rainer persisted Mayer screamed at her in time-honored fashioned, "You'll never work again. We made you and we can break you!" Rainer ended it with, "God made me, and long after you are dead I will be alive." Miss Rainer rarely worked again, but didn't seem to mind. Mr. Mayer died in 1957.

She was known as "The Viennese Teardrop," but was made of sterner stuff, obviously.

I'D NEVER heard of the singer Lana Del Rey until her now infamous appearance on "Saturday Night Live" about a month ago. And I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the bad publicity about the up-and-coming Lana had not NBC's Brian Williams tweeted that hers was the "worst performance in 'SNL' history." That stopped me cold. I don't appreciate the tweeting craze, but I can forgive it coming from the young, who have now grown up on all forms of social media.

But what was Brian Williams attempting to prove by so publicly trashing this young girl? Why is he concerned, anyway? He is a serious newsman. (What am I saying? After all, there's CNN's Anderson Copper publicly carrying on about "The Housewives of Atlanta." The sober news-only days of the Cronkites and Brinkleys will not return.)

So, flipping through the pages of the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, I came across a review of Lana's new (and first) album. It's called -- and perhaps Miss Del Ray appreciates the irony now -- "Born to Die." The review is illustrated with a sexy Brigitte Bardot-style photo of the singer. The critique, by Kyle Anderson, is interesting because apparently Lana delivers on some songs, but not others. He gives the album a C-, but admits there is A-level material within. It is a sympathetic, balanced review, of the type that might encourage an audience.

I hope so. I have never yet seen this girl in an interview and it is unlikely I will pause at anytime to listen to her music. But after her "SNL"/Brian Williams baptism of fire, there's no place to go but up.

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol. com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)