Wondering what we thought about the Observer’s treatment this week of Page Six’s relationship with the Clintons? Get in line. Or not, because there probably isn’t one forming anytime soon. But after prancing around in Michael Calderone’s copy, we did reach one conclusion.

That Howard Rubenstein earns his fee.

When P6 editor Richard Johnson ran into a passport renewal issue, potentially keeping him from attending a party in Saint-Tropez that Diddy was throwing, he called the office of Sen. Hillary Clinton. It’s an example of potential Clinton favoritism toward the Post. Rubenstein, however, explained away the whole matter like so:

“Richard Johnson found the bureaucracy delaying his passport, and he appealed to Clinton’s staff for help, as any constituent would,” said Howard Rubenstein, who is a spokesman for the Post. “And he secured, in a legal and proper way, a passport that he was entitled to.

“There were no favors,” Mr. Rubenstein added.

And about Richard exiting an editorial meeting with the sudden news that Jared Paul Stern’s anti-Hillary item, via hatchet job The Truth About Hillary, was being reworked into a blurb about author Edward Klein writing a terrible book.

“This book was attacked by critics as reckless and having unsubstantiated claims,” said Mr. Rubenstein. “Richard Johnson did not want to carry something that was unsubstantiated and could very well be considered libelous. He constantly edits and rewrites people’s copy. He did what was appropriate. Johnson wanted to do something that was appropriate.”

Ah, the PR biz can be a beautiful thing.

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