Bill Clinton, still a great campaigner
As John Newsom reports, Bill Clinton's appearance in Greensboro today was a lot different than Barack Obama's event here Wednesday.
The former president just has his own style.
The atmosphere at the Bryan Family YMCA was informal and relaxed. No one needed tickets or had to pass through metal detectors to get in. A basketball court was rented for the occasion. Very little seating was available, so people milled around waiting for the star to show up. Most arrived well before 8; Clinton not until 8:30.
The crowd of about 250 didn't mind. People enthusiastically greeted Hillary's husband, who for the next 35 minutes showed who's the best politician on the national stage: He is, and his wife's campaign just gives him a chance to prove it every day. If his performance this morning was an indication, he loves it. He was in his element.
He started by saying how important North Carolina is: "I bet you're glad your votes are going to count in the North Carolina presidential primary."
Then he knocked the press coverage of the campaign: "I've never seen this much imbalance," adding that they stomp on Hillary but "the girl" gets up and keeps going.
I had to guess he was referring to favoritism of Obama, which seems to be prevalent in much of the media. (This piece by NBC's Lee Cowan offers an illustration.)
Clinton launched into a pitch for Hillary's candidacy, focusing his arguments on three points: the economy, the nation's place in the world, and her abilities as a "change maker ... She's the best change maker I have ever known in my entire life."
On the economy, he recounted current troubles, proclaimed the importance of attaining energy independence and developing green technologies and reminded the audience that things were much better during his presidency (not mentioning, however, that the economy was heading into recession as he left office). He said Hillary will enforce better trade deals and made an interesting connection to the budget deficit (he did leave office with a surplus). Our creditors are the same countries that also maintain trade surpluses with us, he said, making it difficult to pressure them. "Do you think you could get away with slapping your banker this afternoon? Could you get a loan tomorrow morning?" Hillary will work to balance the budget, proving herself "more conservative than President Bush" on that score.
He touted her health-care plan and said costs can be controlled only if everyone is covered. Every other wealthy nation has figured out how to do it. Clinton said.
On Iraq, Clinton said Hillary will start withdrawing troops immediately but the drawdown will be "calibrated" in order to protect the 100,000 American civilians there and the Iraqis who are putting their lives on the line. U.S. special forces will remain to fight al-Qaida, which is "still alive and well there."
Hillary will keep our military strong and enjoys more military support that the other candidates, "including Sen. McCain with his sterling military record" because they trust her, Clinton said. She'll also take care of veterans, he promised.
Clinton seemed to contrast Hillary to other candidates who may not do in office what they promise during the campaign. She'll "think about you every day" and make the country stronger, he said.
"All the president is is the world's most fortunate public servant," he said. "That's it, nothing more."
And he seems to miss it.
If Hillary's elected -- probably a long shot -- it will put Bill right back in the center of attention. He would be a presidential spouse like no other.
Clinton wrapped up his talk a little after 9, then did meet-and-greet with fans -- probably ensuring he'll just fall further behind schedule as he proceeds on his ambitious seven-city tour through Piedmont and Western North Carolina today. No problem for him, I'm sure. He seems to love what he's doing.
Comments (7)
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It's somewhat ironic that Bill Clinton is complaining about media bias, since many Republicans felt he was given a free pass by the press (I'm not so sure that was true, but many do believe it).
However, he is absolutely right that the press is squarely behind Obama in this race. Moreso than in any other election I can recall. I've never seen a Democrat get treated this way in the media.
I mean, we're seeing story after story saying "Hillary should throw in the towel" when she's really just 150 or so delegates behind with hundreds more left to be decided.
The good news is that now that Clinton's supporters are feeling the sting, perhaps some Democrats will acknowledge what Republicans have known for years -- media bias is very real and it does have an impact on elections.
Posted on March 28, 2008 12:47 PM
You're be happy to know (see my post above) that Bill says "Bull" to suggestions that Hillary throw in the towel.
Posted on March 28, 2008 4:50 PM
Doug: It's a bit of a cheap shot to claim that "the economy was heading into recession as [Bill Clinton] left office." It's accurate, but in an uninteresting way. It'd be just as accurate to say that the economy was heading into recession when Clinton took office--it just took 8 years to get there.
Every expansion plants the seeds of the next recession, and every recession makes the next expansion possible. The difference between the expansion of the 1990s and the one that may have just ended is that the Clinton expansion was strong and long-lasting, while the Bush expansion was short and weak. Neither president deserves all the credit or blame, but the fact remains that Clinton didn't screw things up. You'd think that would merit more than a snide comment by you.
A few years ago, I was at a conference of business economists (whoo-hoo! wild times!) in D.C., at which then-Treasury secretary John Snow was a speaker. When he said off-handedly that the Bush administration had "inherited" the recession from the previous administration, I was struck by the suppressed laughter rippling through the assembled economists. When it comes to following the economy, you're not going to pull the wool over those folks' eyes.
Posted on March 28, 2008 5:13 PM
Oops! Sorry, Doug--the previous comment was by me.
Posted on March 28, 2008 5:15 PM
My comment might have been snide but I stuck it in there as a brake on Clinton's riff that the economy was all up, up, up during his tenure - implying that it will be that way again when the Clintons get back into the White House. I'm not saying he isn't entitled to claim some share of credit for economic expansion in the 90s, but then how would he explain the recession that began early in 2001 before Bush had done anything that would have influenced the economy? Politically, that's been tagged the first Bush recession. Clinton sticks job losses during that recession to Bush.
I understand your point, but I thought it was appropriate to administer a bit of accountability on the former president's rhetoric.
But I promise not to defend Bush's economic policies or his handling of the budget.
Posted on March 28, 2008 5:23 PM
just saying: You're right about the delegate totals but mistaken about what they mean. According to CNN, Obama leads by 171 in pledged delegates and by 139 when you include those superdelegates who've stated a preference. But because the Democrats allocate delegates in a proportional manner (and also in more complicated ways), 171 is seen by most pundits as a nearly insurmountable lead. It wouldn't be in the Republican primaries (not that anyone's that close to McCain for it to matter this year), because more of their primaries are winner-take-all contests.
Now, perhaps you don't trust the pundits because they're all in Obama's pocket. But even a Clinton campaign official put Hillary's chances at only one in 10. And for that she'd have to catch every break in the remaining primaries and then convince the superdelegates that in spite of the pledged delegate count, Obama is unelectable. I agree with the analysis that says that the only way she can manage that is by trashing Obama and making him in fact unelectable.
So sure, Hillary's got a chance. And if this were a football game, of course the only option would be to keep fighting. But politics isn't football, and the tactics that Hillary must use have the very real potential to wreck the Democrats' chances in November, and not just for the White House. There are Congressional and state elections that matter too. For Republicans, this Clinton-Obama thing is like manna from heaven.
Posted on March 28, 2008 5:26 PM
Anonymous said:
Doug: It's a bit of a cheap shot to claim that "the economy was heading into recession as [Bill Clinton] left office." It's accurate
Of course it was accurate, if you consider the failure of the Dot.com business as the mythical reason for the so-called recession at the end of the Clinton era. Of course! This so-called recession gave us 18 dollar a barrel of oil, 250 dollars for a oz of Gold, M-3 money supply fiqures were posted daily, Housing and major subdivisions along with booming major shopping malls poping up everywhere and Auto production was turning out SUV's by the millions! And we still had texile and furniture plants open!
Some recession?
Doug said:
My comment might have been snide but I stuck it in there as a brake on Clinton's riff that the economy was all up, up, up during his tenure - implying that it will be that way again when the Clintons get back into the White House. I'm not saying he isn't entitled to claim some share of credit for economic expansion in the 90s, but then how would he explain the recession that began early in 2001 before Bush had done anything that would have influenced the economy? Politically, that's been tagged the first Bush recession. Clinton sticks job losses during that recession to Bush.
Fact! Who control the House from 1995 to 2000 and approves the federal budget? Who control the Senate from 1995 to 2000 and agree to the Global treaties for so-called free trade?
Dick Cheney was right with the Republican campaign slogan in 2000! " Help is on way" and boy did this nation get it!
Posted on March 30, 2008 12:00 AM