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Bill Clinton And Obama Finally Speak
Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton:
"Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come."
Cue up pundits telling us what a liability Bill will be to Obama...
Late Update: Apparently Obama skipped Maureen Dowd's column yesterday saying that Bill is trying to undermine Obama.
Late Late Update: Here's the statement from Bill's office:
President Clinton had a very good conversation with Senator Obama today. He renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Senator Obama is our next President.President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come. The President believes that Senator Obama has been a great inspiration for millions of people around the country, and he knows that he will bring the change America needs as our next President.
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That's somewhat ironic after all the armchair quarterbacking you've done today, Greg.
June 30, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, yeah.
June 30, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cue up the pundits wondering if it was sincere, did Bill really say he'd work for Obama, and does this mean they'll appear together????!@#?$?!?????
Oh, and if that's not enough stupidity, they can speculate about Obama receiving Bill's counsel. Gasp!!! BILL'S GONNA RUN OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN!!!@$$!!!!!ZOMG!!!!!BREAKING!!!!!
June 30, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Surely the pundits will jump all over Bill's lack-luster attitude toward Obama: Obama said he had a "terrific conversation" with Bill, while Bill would only admit to a "very good conversation."
June 30, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
As for the late update, here's a piece of unsolicited advice for Obama: skip every Dowd column.
June 30, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that advice can be applied to everyone.
June 30, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hear! Hear!
June 30, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, we get it, you're not a Maureen Dowd fan. Neither am I for that matter. But you're starting to act petulant about it. My advice: just stop referring to her so often.
June 30, 2008 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
blogs work well when they're repetitive. :)
June 30, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can say that again.
June 30, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ditto
June 30, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does anyone read Maureen Dowd any more? Could any one columnist be any more irrelevant these days than Maureen Dowd? Geez.
June 30, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes, it's worth talking about her to remember just how her fevered mind works.
June 30, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
who cares?!
the clintons are irrelevant.
June 30, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
she got roughly half the votes in the democratic primary. irrelevant? obama won, why not get over it and start working together? talk about a sore winner.
June 30, 2008 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton will do whatever obama wants? Good shut-up and go to bora, bora until November 5. That would be a huge help.
June 30, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: "Cue up pundits telling us what a liability Bill will be to Obama..."
He will be! He was a liability to Hillary and he WANTED her to win. He was so much of a loose cannon, he was relegated to small towns and backwaters for much of the campaign.
It's been evident that Bill has had a bee in his bonnet around Obama, dating back to at least December 2007, when he blew a gasket on Charlie Rose. Bill is Obama's frienemy, at best.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/12/a-tense-bill-cl.html
June 30, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Bill can say something stupid and Obama can criticize him too. At this rate Barack is going to disavow half the Republican party.
June 30, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Make that Democratic party.
June 30, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope Barack Obama uses Bill Clinton good in his campaign. Unlike the media pundits that question if Barack would have him on his campaign, I ask why not? As Democrats we must learn from our past mistakes, if anyone remembers Al Gore's run where he rarely made appearances with Bill Clinton and many contributing it to Gore's loss.
June 30, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bill isn't the same guy he was, back in 2000. He's always been a turn off to a lot of people, even more so now.
Part of Obama's appeal, is that he's the unClinton. Bill muddies up his brand.
June 30, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
the people who are turned off by bill clinton are either comnplete and utter republitards or cultist obamabots. obama will not win the republitard vote or lose the obamabot vote no matter what he does. on the other hand, there are many people who adore bill clinton and who are on the fence about obama. having bill clinton campaing for him would be a huge boost for obama.
June 30, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Part of Obama's appeal is that he, at least appears to be, against Triangulation, a staple of the post-failed Healthcare Clintons.
But if Obama appears to be anything but open arms to Bill Clinton, the media will trounce on it. He must do an event the likes of the Gore Michigan or Unity event with Bill, to complete the trifecta. Anything less will appear as if Obama is only half-heartedly embracing Bill.
Final point - he doesn't have to embrace Bill's legacy by having him campaign for him.
June 30, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that Obama has to do some sort of event, but it should be as low key as he can make it.
The problem that the average person has with Bill, isn't around triangulation, but more about perceived ethics issues.
It isn't just about Monica, Clinton's behavior since he left office is a virtual Pandora's box of scandal talking points.
A google search of Ron Burkle + Bill Clinton brings up a lot of stuff that Obama doesn't need to be associated with.
June 30, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
truly, the amount of "stuff" brought up by a google search is indeed an accurate measure of the underlying truthyness of the scandal.
June 30, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bill Clinton didn't make 109 million in 7 years playing patty cake. It is true that his aide hooked Raphael Follieri up with bill and Bill hooked Follieri up with Ron Burkle. No one denies it.
The Feds allege that Follieri promised the Clintons to help with the Catholic vote, via the Vatican. If it was in exchange for an in t Burkle, it's not exactly the kind of the the Dems want to be associated with.
June 30, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I don't think Greg sounds at all petulant about the vacuous idiot, Dowd, and the more pile-ons the better. She's getting paid for this shit -
Criticism goes with the job and I think she's worthless and verging on Nooner nuttiness.
June 30, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tell Bill he's in charge of bringing home Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia for Obama.
And hands off Obama girl!
June 30, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
In theory a great idea. In practice it will never work. The right-wing media will be on top of mr. bill every step of the way and his gaffes and statements will be broadcast nationwide. His impact cannot be limited to those states, which obama won't win anyway. His negative impact will be nationwide. I still say off to bora, bora with him to play with the natives with no press. That should keep him occupied. By the way, if clinton sent him to bora, bora along with penn, I submit she very may well have pulled off the primary.
June 30, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's what I was thinking, too. That, and find some staff people, if they exist, who are tough enough to keep Bill on message.
July 1, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sane Bill Clinton would be a great surrogate for promoting Obama's economic agendas and policy, but Sane and Bill are a rare combination these days.
Putting Bill Clinton on the trail, if you'll, will be "roll of the dice." His limitless ego will almost be impossible to contain, and he seems less likely to stay on message.
And Bill pulling in a couple of key states is a "fairy tale" as well. I'm not even sure if he can swing Arkansas.
All Obama needs is a one big public endorsement event. A few hand shakes, a couple of hugs, palms on shoulders and pats at the back. Bill can then go back to his charity work and release occassional statements in support of Obama.
It will be difficult to contain Bill.
June 30, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did Barack kiss his ass like Bill said he should? That in addition to dealing with Bill's vain Gen. Clark.
Swiftboating will not work against McCain. The Dems need to stop.
I happen to agree with Clark's assessment of McCain's creds but it's unnecessary noise that the GOP will exploit for all it's worth and more. The love playing the victim to rouse the base and they don't have to deal with the real issues when the Dems attack McCain's military record. Every time a Dem surrogate stirs up the pot, Obama has to tack more to the right. By the time they're done with him, it'll be the left wondering about the Manchurian candidate phenomenon.
He's trying to inoculate himself from the GOP patriotism drumbeat but they will keep at it if they think he's vulnerable.
Having to disassociate himself from surrogates takes a lot of energy.
Once the real issues are debated, McCain will show how weak and tired he is.
This patriotism babble is just a distraction. It's like the couple saying to each other "I love you more" "No I love YOU more" ad infinitum.
June 30, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's about time ! Really, if we are going to win this election we have to put the old angers aside. There is so much to do and so little time. President Obama will need both Clinton and Gore to move the environmental agenda along quickly. There are so many issues to address and so many related to saving our planet. McCain as president could be the final blow for efforts to end global warming. I'm frustrated at the place of the Green cause right now in Obama's positions. I understand that he has to win. But I really hope that when he's in office he make bold efforts to move the Green cause ahead quickly.
June 30, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jeez, I just listened to a 1/2 hour of matthews bloviating on how wonderful the clintons are and how the clintons should be vp. Unbelievable. At least he wasn't whining about the clark think. Yuck.
June 30, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone, v. close to Romney that a friend of mine knows, told him that if Mitt had won the primaries, Hillary was his hands down favorite to run against in the fall, far more than Obama. They would have loved for Bill to be on the agenda.
Matthews may be pushing Hillary for a couple reasons. Ratings being one. Plus, does anyone doubt that the GE/NBC preference is, McCain?
June 30, 2008 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink