LOS ANGELES — Hillary Clinton for president?

“So far she hasn’t said she would, but I think it’s not a bad idea,” former Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC’s Jonathan Karl in an interview on Wednesday to promote his new book “In My  Time.”

Cheney declined to say whether he thought the current Secretary of State would have been a better president than Barack Obama, but called her a “pretty formidable individual.”

“I think she’s probably the most competent person they’ve got in their– in their cabinet.  And– frankly, I thought she was gonna win the nomination last time around,” Cheney said. “Maybe if– the Obama record is bad enough– and these days it’s not very good, given the shape of the economy maybe there will be enough ferment– in the Democratic Party so that there will be a primary on their side.”

During the interview, Cheney criticized several of the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Rick Perry whose comments about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Cheney described as “over-the-top.”

While Cheney sounded positive notes about Clinton, he said not to expect him to endorse anyone on the Republican side anytime soon.

“I don’t plan to endorse anybody till we get a lot farther down the road,” he said.