Posted on 09/03/2012 3:30:36 AM PDT by Libloather
Obama turns to Bill Clinton, the old pro, to help win reelection
By Russell Berman - 09/03/12 05:00 AM ET
President Obama is turning to Bill Clinton, his former foe, for a big lift at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.
The ex-president on Wednesday night will formally place Obama’s name into nomination with a speech aimed at reminding the American electorate that the policies Obama is pursuing are the ones that led to the nation’s longest period of economic expansion, during the 1990s.
Obama’s selection of Clinton for such a high-profile address is the latest evidence, for those who still need it, that the former president’s stinging criticism of Obama in 2008 and his occasional off-message comments in the years since are water under the bridge.
It also demonstrates that 20 years after his election to the presidency, Clinton remains the Democratic Party’s most effective economic messenger.
“President Clinton has a remarkable ability to explain things. He doesn’t talk down to people and he doesn’t talk over their heads,” said Paul Begala, a former adviser and longtime Clinton confidant. “His ability to explain these things is second to none.”
Clinton’s plainspoken style is a contrast to the lofty oratory that Americans have come to expect from Obama.
A prime-time speaking slot for Clinton has become as standard at Democratic conventions as the balloons and confetti. He has delivered an evening address every four years for nearly a quarter-century, and only in 1988 — when Clinton infamously droned on far too long — has his speech earned anything less than rave reviews.
Clinton gave lengthy talks in support of Vice President Gore in 2000 and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) in 2004. His much-anticipated speech backing Obama in 2008 came just months after the Illinois senator’s bitter Democratic primary fight with then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), during which Bill Clinton likened Obama’s candidacy to “a fairytale” and dismissed his success in South Carolina as similar to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s long-shot campaign in 1988.
The crux of Clinton’s speech in 2008 boiled down to 11 words: “Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.”
In the years since, Clinton has given Obama both help and heartburn. He served as a crucial surrogate in late 2010 as the president sought to sell the deal he struck with Republicans to extend the George W. Bush-era tax rates. But he’s also stepped on Obama’s campaign message from time to time, such as when he credited Mitt Romney for a “sterling” business career and seemed to suggest that the full slate of Bush tax cuts should again be extended.
“There’s no one better than President Clinton to lay out the clear choice Americans face in this election, between moving forward with President Obama or falling backward with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who support the same failed policies that led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said.
The Obama campaign would not preview Clinton’s address in Charlotte beyond pointing to a 30-second ad the former president cut for Obama, which was released last month.
“This election, to me, is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. This is a clear choice,” Clinton says, speaking directly to the camera. “The Republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper-income people and go back to deregulation. That’s what got us in trouble in the first place. President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up, investing in innovation, education and job training. It only works if there is a strong middle class. That’s what happened when I was president. We need to keep going with his plan.”
A Clinton spokesman did not return requests for comment.
Clinton also is likely to include some lavish praise for his wife, who is not appearing at the convention in deference to her non-political position as secretary of State. There is a lot of speculation that Hillary Clinton will run again in 2016, though she has said she will not.
If Clinton’s speech on Wednesday follows the pattern of his recent convention addresses, it will include an extended recitation of his own economic record and the rosier times of the 1990s.
Clinton “presided over the greatest boom in world history, certainly in American history,” Begala said. “People remember that, and they like it.”
In a poll released last month by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News, 57 percent of registered voters had a favorable opinion of Clinton — a higher rating than they gave any of the four men on the 2012 national ticket.
For the Obama campaign, the biggest risk could be that Clinton unwittingly leads viewers to draw an unfavorable comparison between himself and Obama, who has served through three and a half years of high unemployment and an uneven economic recovery.
Begala said Clinton is well-positioned to explain the circumstances to voters, and, more broadly, to articulate the “common set of ideas” that worked in the 1990s and are needed again today.
“I have been involved, I guarantee you, in more than a thousand Bill Clinton speeches, and very few of them have failed,” said Begala, who emphasized he was not speaking for Clinton nor working with the Obama campaign. “I doubt [the Obama team is] worried, or they wouldn’t have asked him to give the speech. I think President Clinton knows what he’s doing here. He’s getting pretty good at this game.”
Clinton road the coatails of 12 years of economic surge and peace dividends ignoring the growing islamic danger.
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And the stupid American voter still likes the old crook Bill. Why, I will never know.
Two thoughts. Was going to say as I often have that the “Great Campaigner” never got anyone elected but himself. However, it is pointed out by at least one astute freeper above he didn’t even do that, Ross Perot did.
And, just recently saw that commercial of his for the president and thought the same thing many probably have when he mentioned Obama has a plan. He’s the president right now, where IS this plan?
Clinton has been called in save many an election for democrats. But my recollection is that few have won. Is there a won/loss record available??
The opening game has been Thursday for several years at the home of the defending Super Bowl Champions. They moved it back one day because Obama is speaking Thursday night so Obama gave Clinton the game spot.
LOL- how’s clinton’s record of helping get people elected/re-elected??? this is good news for Romney...
Clinton is a DISGRACED IMPEACHED President....period.
Go ahead billy boy, endorse away.
BTW... Ann... you're dead on with your assessment of bubba. I have a friend who works for the Des Moine Register. She had an encouter in her office, during the 2008 campaign for Hillary, with old Bill and has let more than a few people know how truly vile he is. She'll never go public with it, but suffice to say this life long democrat won't touch that party with a ten foot pole.
Slick’s magic is vastly overrated, he couldn’t have won election without the assistance of the little Texan with the big ears and the funny voice. You remember him, the cartoon candidate who dropped out of the race because he was doing TOO well! He was afraid he might accidentally win so he dropped out and then reentered so he could take just enough votes away from the GOP to elect the rapist from Arkansas.
Well, we need to remind people on EVERY Convention thread that Bill Clinton is a DISGRACED IMPEACHED President! He had his LAW LICENSE SUSPENDED FOR YEARS and is NEVER able to argue in front of the Supreme Court!!
Why would anyone call you crazy for saying what should be obvious to anyone with a working brain? Show me someone who praises Clinton and Carter and I will show you a person who has a very tenuous acquaintance with reality.
“Toughest decision for the DNC: Who should introduce Bill Clinton; Monica Lewinsky or Juanita Broderick?”
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Definitely Lewinsky, her name is much more widely known. Obama should be introduced by Reggie Love who should be introduced by Larry Sinclair...or vice versa.
Screwtape introduces Wormwood.
Like screwing intern is jus' oral sex, what IS is......
May I add to your list.....participant in a sham, amoral "marriage" in which both participants use their unholy union to political and financial advantage only - and demean, debase and dishonor the holy sacrament of marriage.
In the Roman amphitheater where the morally corrupt Clinton will give Obama's nomination speech and solemnly extol the virtues of his virtual "wife", the delegates and free-tickets crowd will salivate, exult over, and cheer wildly for their holy man, Bubba.
In a setting where a husband is speaking before the multitudes on behalf of his presidential king-of-kings, wives are generally at the sides of their mates. In this case, Hillary will be as far away from her "spouse" as she can be - in the South Pacific playing Nellie Forbush to the restless natives in Rarotonga.
In the DemonCrap religion, Obama is the messiah, and Clinton is the disciple on whom the messiah is trying to build his rock. Neither one will have the slightest shame when Bill confers sainthood on his wife-of-convenience-only in his speech.
The DNC convention in the next few days will be nothing more than a convening of false gods, blasphemous testimony, mindless followers and wild oratorical orgies.
Leni
Just so Obama knows this up front, Bill Clinton thinks you are an incompetent,POS. He is correct. If you think he is going to save your sorry butt, you are screwed.
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