Clinton says he's ready to campaign for Obama

[babylonsister]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_BILL_CLINTON?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Clinton says he's ready to campaign for Obama


NEW YORK (AP) -- Former President Clinton says he is ready to campaign for Barack Obama whenever the Democrat needs him.

Relations between Clinton and Obama have only just began to thaw since Obama defeated the former president's wife in the bruising Democratic primary. Throughout that bare-knuckle race, Clinton had portrayed Obama as too inexperienced to be president.

Just weeks ago, Obama called the former president to ask for his help in winning the White House.

Since Obama clinched the nomination, it has remained an open question as to what role Clinton would play in campaigning for him.

Clinton says the timetable is all up to Obama.

He spoke at a Manhattan news conference Thursday about work that his foundation is doing.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. T

[anonymous171]

1. Send Bill to Appalachia.

He would do wonders there, I believe. Also he could undo some of the damage he did there to Obama during the primaries.

[tekisui]

16. Second that.

[Peacetrain]

18. Let me make that three! NT

[Cha]

26. Simple but

Brilliant!

[Hope And Change]

2. K & R!

[PresidentObama]

3. Only on DU, did Democrats believe he wouldn't.

Of course Bill Clinton will campaign for Obama.

So those of you with this bat shit crazy notion that the Clintons only care about themselves can stick this one in your pipe, and smoke it. Because you would be wrong. Again.

Once again the Clintons defy those who smear them, and Bill will help Obama get elected!!

I say good. Bill Clinton will help in many states, including PA and OH.

[quantass]

4. The same way he helped Kerry? Hmm. Let's hope for the best.

[PresidentObama]

6. He didn't help Kerry? News to me. Him and Hillary did.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. he campaigned for Kerry

Why would you say he didn't? Is there no lie about Clinton you won't push?

[11cents]

14. Gee, that would be asking a lot.

Clinton's first public appearance after his heart surgery was at a huge Kerry campaign rally, packed with people who'd come out to see him. And he was still visibly weak at the time -- quite a strain on him. We wouldn't want to actually risk his health, would we?

(From which orifice has this notion that Clinton didn't help Kerry been extracted? I've seen it expressed a few times, but never with any indication of what dereliction people are talking about, and I don't recall Clinton being criticized at the time for not helping Kerry.)

[karynnj]

49. You misunderstand - it is true he campaigned, but there were other things he did pre- and post heart

surgery that hurt Kerry. They are harder to see than the appearance in Philadelphia - but they were real - and the same type of passive/aggressive things he did with Gore.

You make the issue campaigning in fall 2004. The lack of support that I and many others have spoken of - with no Kerry quotes to back us up - are based on our observations of negative things he and his allies did - not anything not done. Some are:

1) Releasing his autobiography in July 2004. Bill Clinton is reputed to be the sharpest politician of our generation - any high school kid could see why this is a bad idea in the run up to the election. As it was, June was a month when Kerry could get little coverage - as it was solid Reagan coverage for at least 3 weeks. Then Bill Clinton took a fair part of July - and all of us were treated to learning that the reason for Monica was "because I could". Now, frankly I could have happily lived my whole life not knowing that. This was a repeat of Bill Clinton having a confessional interview about getting his family back after Monica in the week before Gore's convention. You need to either challenge his political acumen or accept in both cases he had some need to fight off Gore or Kerry becoming the head of the party and President.

2) In the book, he has 2 strange pages where he writes of the 1996 MA Senate race. Kerry was the nominee almost 2 months before he finished editing his book - so you know that he reviewed this knowing Kerry was our candidate. The overall impression was that he liked Kerry's competitor more but wanted Kerry to win because of his knowledge on the environment and technology. He also mentioned Kerry's long term work with disadvantaged youth, noting there were no votes in it. Now, none of these 3 were big 2004 issues. Not mentioned were most of Kerry's strongest issues - foreign policy, terrorism (BCCI was already shut down), and healthcare, where Kerry had just written,with Kennedy, the precursor bill to S-CHIP based on the plan that had just passed in MA over Weld's veto! In the sections on Vietnam reconciliation, Clinton extends a huge amount of praise to McCain, nearly ignoring that our nominee was the chair of the committee and, per all accounts of those on the committee, did an incredible job and was the one person most responsible for its success. Now, I think most people, unlike me, looked up "Lewinsky" not "Kerry" in the index - but for people who read that nearly 1,000 page book those pages played into the Republican theme that he didn't accomplish much in the Senate.

3) There were Clinton and Clinton ally generated stories all through the period he was convalescing that Kerry's campaign was poorly run and that he was not listening to Clinton's advice. In fact, Kerry numbers went up when he concentrated on Iraq and the War on terror, rather than the economy as Clinton advised. These stories hurt.

4) In the wake of defeat, is when Clinton was the worst. That he praised Rove on the campaign he ran and made a point of saying he liked both Kerry and Bush within a week or two of the election hurt. Then there was the whisper campaign generated by Clinton allies that Kerry was not taking a place as just 1 of the 100 Senators and implying that he was at odds with Reid. (Note that Clinton allies feel she deserves VP, Majority Leader or even Supreme Court Justice as a consolation price for coming far less far - Kerry won the nomination overwhelmingly as voted by Democrats in the primary.)

The fact is that Kerry, by virtue of being the nominee, was a party leader - not the party leader, but a party leader - a status that the Clinton allies were denying. Clinton also had a conflict of interest as the last former President and the husband of HRC. This showed most when in 2005, he spoke of Kerry, a Democrat with far more national security credentials than almost any other Democrat, as weak on defense - rather than embracing Kerry's position on the war on terror. With the specter of Kerry running, he likely didn't want to hand that to Kerry. However, had the Democrats continued to keep that as their policy, the reaction of people like George Will that Kerry was right would have positioned us as best on national security. The fact is that contrary to the list in BC's book, there was no Senator who understood more about the threat of non-state terrorists than the guy who wrote "The New War". The constant belittling Kerry and blaming Kerry for the SBVT by all the Clinton people was painful - and that did color my picture of the Clintons for the worse.

As to the campaigning, the question I would ask is who called whom. I seriously doubt the Kerry campaign begged him to campaign. By the time Clinton campaigned, Kerry alone had already had huge rallies - that broke all previous records. He STILL holds the record for largest crowd getting 80,000 in Madison WI. Here's a snippet of a MN rally on Oct 21, slightly before the Clinton one. It shows the huge crowd and the excitement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDVr9jXYqSg

Of course Bill Clinton was a draw - but I seriously doubt the attendance had it just been Kerry would have been much less. I saw the entire thing on CSPAN and it was emotional - as the first time Clinton was out and he was good - but Kerry's speech was equally well received - judging from the applause. The media reports all spoke mostly of Clinton, because his being out was the news. In fact, either CNN or MSNBC cut away as soon as Clinton ended. So, newswise - I would guess it helped Kerry less than the local coverage of a just Kerry rally would have.

Now, I've seen people post that Kerry would not have won PA without that rally. This is extremely unlikely - this was downtown Philadelphia - an area that ALWAYS is very Democratic. The African American turn out across the country was record breaking - even where Bill Clinton didn't go and Kerry got a higher percent of their vote than Bill Clinton in 1992. There is no reason to think Philadelpia would be different. In Pittsburgh, it wasn't Clinton but THK who made a difference. I suspect that was the case in the affluent Philadelphia suburbs - as there were likely many independents that remembered her as their Senator's wife and as one ex-PA Republican in my area (NJ) accepted Kerry as good because otherwise she wouldn't have married him.

[politicasista]

57. more **crickets**

Good post.

[merh]

66. Gee, what was he doing before the September surgery?

I think it was his book tour and not campaigning.

The election was in November, he hit the trail October 26 and may have made two appearances. That is not truly campaigning.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/25/clinton.monday/

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/politics/campaign/20clinton.html

[Virginia Dare]

19. He was having a health issue at the time...n/t

[daa]

23. Kerry didn't help himself nt

[karynnj]

51. Actually he and his family worked their hearts out

He had a wonderful platform, that greatly influenced everyone in 2008. His debates were exceptional and in spite of huge provocation he never lost focus or his temper. 2004 was an impossible year with a terrorized country with politically motivated terror level changes, a media that condoned a character assassination and a wartime President at near 50% approval. (Some disapproval was on the Buchanan side) Give all that, 2004 could have been a landslide - yet with Kerry - they had to suppress the vote and cheat. That says he did many things right. 2008 is a much better time and if Obama is as good as Kerry was, it will be a landslide.

[politicasista]

56. **crickets**

They always seem to chirp when factual posts come out.

[Captain Hilts]

60. Chelsea campaigned with Caroline Kennedy and the Kerry girls. Especially in FLA. nt

[karynnj]

64. I was not saying she didn't - note my post does not mention

anyone other than the Kerry family. Chelsea did a few appearances which was very nice and something that she didn't have to do. I was responding to a post that implied Kerry didn't do much. Caroline was out there a lot - and spoke of campaigning and volunteering for Kerry when she was 15 years old - riding over on her bike from school.

[Captain Hilts]

65. Mine was not a comment on the text of your message. nt

[Danger Mouse]

34. You're either lying or stunningly ignorant.

[Captain Hilts]

41. Making up his own history, he is. Clinton DID campaign for Kerry. nt

[Danger Mouse]

46. Yup, and right after having OPEN HEART SURGERY, right?

I mean, what did they expect of the guy?

[Captain Hilts]

59. Indeed. It was an unusually skinny Bubba that went on the campaign trail. nt

[Zynx]

55. My father went to a rally in Milwaukee where he saw both Kerry and Clinton personally.

You're a liar and not a good one at that.

[emilyg]

21. What will DU talk about now?

[Captain Hilts]

22. Well, DUers re-wrote history saying Bill 'n' Hill didn't campaign for Kerry. What can we expect? nt

[Cha]

27. I know he campaigned for Kerry..

He should be a lot healthier campaigning for Obama.

[Captain Hilts]

29. Indeed! Obama won't make the mistake Gore made. nt

[madura]

40. he hasn't done squat yet, has he?

so i'd bag that little tirade of yours until the appropriate time comes.

[BklynChick]

5. not to be negative, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[elocs]

7. There is a group here at DU who will label anyone who is critical of Bill Clinton as a "hater".

With them you can constructively criticize Obama until the cows come home, but say a negative word about Bill Clinton and they will automatically stamp your forehead with HATER! I really believe that they love to do that--it somehow makes them feel empowered.

I would expect any and every Democrat to be willing to campaign for Obama and there should not have to be any kind of announcement to declare it.

[PresidentObama]

8. So Clinton is going to campaign for Obama, and you're attacking t hose who defend Clinton?

Alright....

I guess you're a 'hater'

[elocs]

11. You certainly have the ability to read a lot into a post,

especially one where I said not a word negative about Bill Clinton, but rather that there are people who will not hear of any criticism of him. Nice try, no cigar, but better luck next time. You really did make and confirm my point though.

[PresidentObama]

24. What purpose does your post serve in a pro-Clinton thread?

We should be happy he's campaigning for Obama. Obama needs his help. The Big Dog is very valuable on the campaign trail.

[elocs]

37. Does every Democrat need to make a public announcement that they will campaign for Obama?

As I said originally, every Democrat, prominent or otherwise should be automatically assumed to be willing to campaign for Obama. Why should there need to be an announcement?

[PresidentObama]

38. Because some people, like people on DU, had it through there heads he wouldn't

And once again, those who smear the Clintons are wrong.

[Bake]

42. Not every Democrat. Just the Big Dog and Sen. Clinton.

And the only reason they needed to do it was to shut up all the haters who were busily predicting that they wouldn't.

Bake

[karynnj]

52. Let's hope he helps Obama better than he helped HRC

I'm near HRC's age and I would have been furious if my husband made a comment like the one that implied the Bosnia comments were because she was old and tired.

[Egnever]

9. and there should not have to be any kind of announcement to declare it.

That's it in a nutshell isn't it.

[dsc]

17. apparently there does

since day after day, week after week, and month after month we have heard people like you lie to our faces and tell us he wouldn't.

[Egnever]

28. lie to your faces?

he hasnt yet

[Bake]

44. It's up to Obama at this point.

It *is* his campaign, after all.

Bake

[Captain Hilts]

43. You should realize that Bubba's a Big Deal. ONLY Dem to win re-election since FDR...

FDR: That Bubba's a piece of work, ain't he old girl?

ER: That, he is. You two would have a LOT to talk about, now move over and let me drive!

[KAZ]

10. Excellent! K&R!

[NattPang]

13. I am glad that Bill announced this.

[NatBurner]

15. cool

let's get this party started

[Virginia Dare]

20. Awesome, those two will be electric on stage together..

say what you want about Bill, but the man can campaign, as long as it isn't for his spouse..;-)

[lojasmo]

25. Keep him FAR away.

Obama will do better without Clinton dogging his campaign.

[TheDebbieDee]

33. Obama will need all the help he can get............

There are still alot of ill-informed voters that are sitting on the fence that may have favorable memories of the Clinton years. Big Dog may be able to rope those voters in for Obama.

[Name removed]

72. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PresidentObama]

36. Most idiotic post in DU's history? Close.

Both Clintons will HELP Obama.

[lojasmo]

71. You have bested it many times. N/T

[PresidentObama]

74. Nope, nothing ever that idiotic or wrong n/t

[Captain Hilts]

39. That's what Gore said! nt

[lojasmo]

70. Gore won. N/T

[TheDebbieDee]

76. But if Gore had used Clinton to campaign for him.....

the bushies would not have been able to keep the poll numbers close enough to steal that election!

[Beacool]

58. Permit me,

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

to laugh my ass off.....

[lojasmo]

69. Meh.

[Beacool]

73. Translation?

Si vous plais.......

:D

[LynneSin]

30. It was a matter of time for this to happen

I never doubted that Bill wouldn't support Obama. He's just got a few wounds to lick and now that some time to heal has occured I welcome Bill to the team.

If anything Obama has inspired me to work for his election the same way Bill Clinton did back in 1992. I think both of them together is a good match!

[SeaLyons]

31. Go Bill.....The two of them together will be GREAT!!!

[Lilith Velkor]

32. Cue the alarums and excursions

Oh noes1!!

[Danger Mouse]

35. That's good to hear. He'll be an asset to Obama.

I'd like to see them up on stage together.

[Lord Helmet]

45. yikes - I don't trust the Clintons as far as I could throw them

[PresidentObama]

47. Good thing it's not about you or what you think.

[Lord Helmet]

48. what's that saying - the first time the dog bites you .........

Obama didn't just fall off a turnip truck. He found out just how low they were prepared to go to win. He's too smart to let them get a chance to undermine him again. but you can keep cheer leading all you want.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

50. loosen your helmet ...

[Lord Helmet]

62. is a difference of opinion too much to bear that you feel justified launching a personal attack?

Got to tell you that that kind of bungholey behavior mirrors the bungholey behavior of the
Clintons during the primary that just reinforces my opinion.

[shaniqua6392]

53. Even Obama is smart enough to know

that he needs the support of Bill and Hillary Clinton. That is why he called Bill to ask for his help.

[NYC_SKP]

54. I'll tell you where Bill "Big Dog" Clinton can go...

...to be most effective.

I'd like to see a few appearances of them together, but too much of that might disaffect some voters who are looking for a clean and complete break from the past.

Bill Clinton could really help bring in the unhappy Hillary supporters and Hillblazers, if his heart is in it, and that's where I'd like to see 90% of his effort go.

My guess is that Senator Obama would agree and will encourage Bill to help in these ways.

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

61. Again, what was so bad about the '90s? They were pretty good for this country.

Why blame Clinton for Republican shit and Democratic Party cowardice?

[NYC_SKP]

67. The 1996 Telecommunications Act, for one thing.

You will not agree that these things happened or that they were so bad if they did.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act and other changes in regulation and trade gave away our freedom of choice in media and free access to information and gave away jobs. Short term benefits to businesses and corporations stimulated the economy and job growth, but these were not sustainable.

Concentration of media ownership and of corporations more generally, is not a good thing for the working class American in the long run.

His failure to act with respect to energy issues, including allowing CAFE standard to become weaker, gave us gas guzzling SUVs and our current energy crisis (with huge assists from GWB).

While we were not engaged in declared wars, I feel that the actions in Boznia/Serbia were reckless and destructive.

He is a globalist, I don't like globalists.

His failure to release the donor list for his presidential library is shameless and Bush-like.

He lowered the threshold of acceptable behavior for a president in both public and private matters.

He was better than Bush, but not better than Carter, or than Jerry Brown or Kucinich or Russ Feingold would have been.

:hi:

[merh]

68. Go look a little closer at his admin

Look up extraordinary renditions and no bids to Halliburton.

Then consider the fact that those "no fly zones" that poppy began in Iraq were illegal and Clinton never changed course.

[rndmprsn]

63. Big Dog is Back

good for you Bill!

[Catherine Vincent]

75. Why would Big Dog campaign for Obama?

Isn't he a racist?

[Imagevision]

77. Let's make sure Bill Clinton doesn't pull any Phil Graham stunts...