Bill Clinton offers support to Obama

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>Bill Clinton offers support to Obama</font size></center>

Associated Press
By NEDRA PICKLER
Jun 24, 4:38 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Clinton on Tuesday offered to help Barack Obama win the White House, although what work he'll do for his wife's former rival remained uncertain.

The Obama campaign is still smarting over some of Bill Clinton's criticism in the primary race, while the last Democratic president remains a popular political draw. But before the two can work together, they have to speak.

Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have taken steps to join efforts in the last three weeks - she met with him privately, endorsed his campaign and will campaign with him Friday. But the former Democratic president and the man running to be the next one haven't talked since the campaign ended.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the 42nd president came up in a phone call between Obama and Hillary Clinton on Sunday. They talked about how Obama should connect with Bill Clinton in the future, Burton said.

Bill Clinton extended his support to Obama for the first time Tuesday in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna.

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," McKenna said.

It's not clear what Obama might ask him to do. The campaign wasn't specific when asked.

"A unified Democratic Party is going to be a powerful force for change this year and we're confident President Clinton will play a big role in that," was all Burton would say.

Bill Clinton will not be attending the rally with his wife and Obama Friday in the symbolic town of Unity, N.H. McKenna said the former president is in Europe this week to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, give speeches and work for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Hillary Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee issued a statement after her husband's that didn't mention him. "Senator Clinton is very pleased with how quickly the party is coming together after the primaries, and she will continue to do everything she can to unite Democrats behind Senator Obama as our nominee," Elleithee said.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primary race. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. His remarks angered some black leaders who felt Clinton was dismissing Obama's historic bid, as when he compared Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's victories there in the 1980s.

Clinton fumed in response that it was Obama's campaign that "played the race card on me."

During one debate Obama snapped at Hillary Clinton, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Bill Clinton wasn't the only spouse on edge over the competition. Obama's wife Michelle said of the former president in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, "I want to rip his eyes out!" before adding, "Kidding!"

President Clinton has been the most valuable personality in the Democratic Party, his political skills contrasting with those of other former Democratic nominees from Jimmy Carter to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry. But his angry outbursts while campaigning for his wife tarnished his image. Obama prizes a tightly controlled message and lack of drama in his campaign, which are not President Clinton's hallmarks.

Half of respondents to an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in mid-June viewed Bill Clinton favorably. But those voicing a "very favorable" opinion of him dropped from 25 percent in December before the primary voting began to 16 percent in June. Still, the former president is one of the most popular figures in public life and he drew large, enthusiastic crowds when campaigning for his wife.

Democratic consultant Mark Kornblau said the benefits of having Bill Clinton's help outweigh the negatives for Obama. He said Clinton could travel to economically struggling states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan and talk about the prosperity under his presidency and promote Obama's vision.

"He can connect in parts of the country where Senator Obama may need some help, like the Rust Belt, and it will help in further unifying the party after a fractious primary," said Kornblau, who was a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. "The downside, as we saw in the primary, is that it's a little roll of the dice. But I think it's worth the risk."

---

On the Net:

http://www.barackobama.com


http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20080624/D91GLO4O0.html

 

[QueEx]

<font size="4">
How much support from Bill does Obama really want ??

</font size>

 

[Cristar Mymine]

None. Look how much of a shitty surrogate he ended up being for Hillary's campaign.

 

[Havoc]

I wouldn't want him touching my campaign with a 50 foot pole

 

[Mad Boma]

It's funny. Could you have imagined 1 or more years ago trying to avoid Bill Clinton?

 

[glueguy]

<font size="5"><center>Bill Clinton offers support to Obama</font size></center>

Associated Press
By NEDRA PICKLER
Jun 24, 4:38 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Clinton on Tuesday offered to help Barack Obama win the White House, although what work he'll do hefor his wife's former rival remained uncertain.

The Obama campaign is still smarting over some of Bill Clinton's criticism in the primary race, while the last Democratic president remains a popular political draw. But before the two can work together, they have to speak.

Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have taken steps to join efforts in the last three weeks - she met with him privately, endorsed his campaign and will campaign with him Friday. But the former Democratic president and the man running to be the next one haven't talked since the campaign ended.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the 42nd president came up in a phone call between Obama and Hillary Clinton on Sunday. They talked about how Obama should connect with Bill Clinton in the future, Burton said.

Bill Clinton extended his support to Obama for the first time Tuesday in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna.

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," McKenna said.

It's not clear what Obama might ask him to do. The campaign wasn't specific when asked.

"A unified Democratic Party is going to be a powerful force for change this year and we're confident President Clinton will play a big role in that," was all Burton would say.

Bill Clinton will not be attending the rally with his wife and Obama Friday in the symbolic town of Unity, N.H. McKenna said the former president is in Europe this week to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, give speeches and work for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Hillary Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee issued a statement after her husband's that didn't mention him. "Senator Clinton is very pleased with how quickly the party is coming together after the primaries, and she will continue to do everything she can to unite Democrats behind Senator Obama as our nominee," Elleithee said.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primary race. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. His remarks angered some black leaders who felt Clinton was dismissing Obama's historic bid, as when he compared Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's victories there in the 1980s.

Clinton fumed in response that it was Obama's campaign that "played the race card on me."

During one debate Obama snapped at Hillary Clinton, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Bill Clinton wasn't the only spouse on edge over the competition. Obama's wife Michelle said of the former president in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, "I want to rip his eyes out!" before adding, "Kidding!"

President Clinton has been the most valuable personality in the Democratic Party, his political skills contrasting with those of other former Democratic nominees from Jimmy Carter to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry. But his angry outbursts while campaigning for his wife tarnished his image. Obama prizes a tightly controlled message and lack of drama in his campaign, which are not President Clinton's hallmarks.

Half of respondents to an AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in mid-June viewed Bill Clinton favorably. But those voicing a "very favorable" opinion of him dropped from 25 percent in December before the primary voting began to 16 percent in June. Still, the former president is one of the most popular figures in public life and he drew large, enthusiastic crowds when campaigning for his wife.

Democratic consultant Mark Kornblau said the benefits of having Bill Clinton's help outweigh the negatives for Obama. He said Clinton could travel to economically struggling states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan and talk about the prosperity under his presidency and promote Obama's vision.

"He can connect in parts of the country where Senator Obama may need some help, like the Rust Belt, and it will help in further unifying the party after a fractious primary," said Kornblau, who was a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. "The downside, as we saw in the primary, is that it's a little roll of the dice. But I think it's worth the risk."

---

On the Net:

http://www.barackobama.com


http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20080624/D91GLO4O0.html

if obama believes clinton is sincere, he would be foolish to utilize the resources clinton has acquired from his many years of politics

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><Center>
Clinton embraces return to ambassador role</font size><font size="4">
After the bitter primaries, he calls charity 'my life'</center>

</font size>Former President Bill Clinton meets with local coffee growers at the Kigali Serena Hotel,
Friday, Aug. 1, in Kigali, Rawanda.<font size="4">


Washington Post
By Anne E. Kornblut
Sat., Aug. 2, 2008

KIGALI, Rwanda, Aug. 2 - There will be no Clinton restoration -- not this year, at least. But the rehabilitation of Bill Clinton has begun.

The former president in many ways ended the Democratic primary campaign more isolated than his wife, with his own friends and allies unhappy with his flashes of anger and ill-chosen words and blaming him in part for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's defeat. With a negligible relationship with Sen. Barack Obama -- he has spoken to him just once since the primaries -- Clinton has been shut out of the Obama campaign almost entirely and does not know even basic things, such as the role he will play at the Democratic convention.

It is uncharted territory for the most successful Democratic politician of his generation, and part of the reason he was in Kigali on Saturday, the latest stop in a grueling journey across Africa to visit some of the places where his charitable foundation has been active -- and in the process re-establish his role as a global elder statesman. At the same time, Clinton began, slowly, to discuss the bruising Democratic primary season that ended two months earlier.

In his first extended interview since his wife exited the campaign in defeat, Clinton said he was glad to be back doing international foundation work. "This is my life now, and I was eager to get back to it, and I couldn't be happier," Clinton said in a hotel suite, with three aides looking on.

In a session that lasted more than 45 minutes, Clinton described his role in the 2008 campaign as "a privilege, an honor," and said, "I loved it," but he declined to discuss any of his own possible mistakes, describing them as a distraction. "Next year, you and I and everybody else will be freer and have more space to say what we believe to be the truth" about the primaries, he said.

Clinton volunteered very little praise of Obama, beyond describing him as "smart" and "a good politician" when asked about him toward the end of the interview. He did, however, muse at length about the role that race could play in the general election -- the issue that some of his former black allies angrily accused him of introducing in the Democratic primaries -- as a factor, if not a decisive one.

Clinton appeared at ease, in a yellow button-down shirt and green khakis, an unlighted cigar in his hand, after a long day in which he had visited a remote town in eastern Rwanda to meet with local farmers growing cassava, a sturdy root plant, with assistance from his foundation.

He worked his way up into a village on foot, meeting a 14-year-old boy with AIDS who is receiving care from a local health provider allied with the Clinton health initiative. Then, after having lunch with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, he took a helicopter to just south of the Ugandan border to break ground on a new, advanced hospital -- digging a shovel into the ground and declaring the space as one that "symbolizes health and hope and peace and unity."

He was, along the way, classic Clinton: nodding attentively as villagers described the impact his nonprofits are having, interrogating participants about what they needed, showing off his range of expertise on topics including gorilla preservation and pediatric AIDS care.

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who with his wife, Christie, accompanied Clinton on the trip, pointed to the stops as part of the way the former president is still helping set an example without making policy outright.

"The lesson here is that this is what foreign policy ought to be about," Vilsack said.

Yet the sight of the Vilsacks trekking down a dusty road in rural Rwanda with Clinton -- with Terry McAuliffe, the ubiquitous Clinton cheerleader and former Democratic National Committee chairman, bounding along close behind -- offered a snapshot of how remote the former president's orbit has become. Vilsack was one of Hillary Clinton's most dogged backers after his own presidential bid faltered, and he remains a Clinton ally now, when it is less fashionable.

Back home, even unwavering allies acknowledge that Clinton is now in a period of recovery. "They don't call him the comeback kid for nothing," Mark Penn, the chief strategist for much of the campaign, said -- implicitly acknowledging Clinton has something to come back from.

"If there's one thing that we've learned in the last 20 years, it's never to count Bill Clinton out," said Howard Wolfson, the senior communications adviser to Hillary Clinton's primary campaign. "And I think this trip is a very powerful reminder of the really extraordinary work that he has done around the world over the last eight years and he will continue to do. And in the end, his work on behalf of people and the substance of that work will trump the YouTube moments that came to characterize some of the last 18 months for him."

Perhaps mindful of the way former vice president Al Gore reversed his downward trajectory after losing in 2000, Clinton has brought along a documentary film crew, sponsored by his Hollywood friend Steve Bing, to chronicle his trip. And two months after his last campaign appearance for his wife, on the eve of the South Dakota primary, Clinton started to talk again to reporters, a species he came to especially resent during the course of the campaign after what he and aides felt was a raft of unfair coverage.

Clinton said that even if Obama wins, people who voted for him will still have immense work to do.

"What we Democrats can't afford to do, even as we support Senator Obama, is try to build one America on the cheap," Clinton said, explaining that people could not tell themselves, " 'I voted across the racial divide; I have no obligations to do something in my community or around the world.' In other words, if he wins . . . we've still got a lot of problems. We've got to heave-to here. We've got to show up."

Asked his view of Obama's high-profile overseas trip, Clinton said it could wind up helping him in the long term if not right away. "I think that the benefit Senator Obama may get out of that trip may come later in the course of this campaign in ways that aren't as obvious as having however many people -- 200,000 people or however many people -- showed up in Berlin."

Obama might be helped, Clinton said, "in some debate when he can say, 'You know, a captain I met in Iraq said this to me,' or, 'I observed this in Afghanistan' -- and I don't mean in a phony, showy way. I mean you want your president to have a feel for this. . . . It's like everything else. You just learn it. You absorb it, so every time you do it, your comfort level goes up."

Clinton said it is an open question whether Obama's big events overseas ultimately helped or hurt politically. But, he said: "He should not be either discouraged or encouraged by the reaction of that trip. He should internalize it. It should be a thing that had merit for him in and of itself. And the fact that it had very little political impact in the short run should be of no concern to anybody. Most voters don't have the space for it right now."

Still, there is a new world order for Clinton, even half a planet away. His trip has drawn large crowds in the places he has gone but has been little more than a blip on the global radar screen, low-key compared with what a Clinton international visit once was and almost invisible compared with the journey Obama made just a week earlier.

Even in Africa, the continent to which Clinton has devoted so much energy, the enthrallment with Obama, the son of an African father, is evident: Before dawn Saturday at the Kigali airport, where Clinton was to arrive to take a helicopter ride out into the country, workers gathered around a television to watch a story about Obama, who was thousands of miles away. At a hotel later, local workers asked reporters if they knew Obama. An African guest wore an "Obama '08" T-shirt.

Clinton is on a characteristically whirlwind journey: After starting out in Ethiopia, he flew to Rwanda on Friday. He travels to Liberia and Senegal on Sunday, making announcements on work his foundation has done on malaria drug price reductions and HIV, and then, without even an overnight stop, he will travel back across time zones to Mexico City to deliver the keynote address at an international AIDS conference on Monday.

His daughter, Chelsea, who took a leave of absence from her job to campaign for her mother, joined her father at every stop, asking questions of local officials and posing for photographs.

And McAuliffe, the over-the-top advocate who introduced Hillary Clinton as "the next president of the United States" on June 3, the night she effectively lost the nomination, brought his exuberance to the small villages along the route as if it were a campaign trail.

As Clinton strolled through a rural town Saturday morning, McAuliffe, running ahead, spotted a group of young children and local villagers waiting to meet the former president. He ran up with his arms outstretched. "How we all doing? Good?" McAuliffe shouted at the bewildered crowd. He waved the Vilsacks over and ordered up a photograph of the moment, and soon the entourage was on to the next stop.
</font size>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25992648

 

[Non-StopJFK2TAB]

until he pays her bills, he could kiss this unity thing good bye. but he doesn't need half of the dem party anyway. he's obama, he has the youth behind him. i swear the dem party better break up if they lose this election. they wanna blame everyone but themselves.

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>
Obama and Bill Clinton Do Lunch</font size><font size="4">
Obama: "We're putting him to work,''</font size></center>

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton shared a lunch
in Clinton's Harlem New York office September
11, 2008. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Washington Post
By Jonathan Weisman
September 11, 2008

NEW YORK -- On a solemn day when both presidential candidates vowed to drop the politics, Democratic nominee Barack Obama attended to some necessary bridge-building in Gotham.

Obama headed to Harlem to have lunch with former president Bill Clinton in the longest private get-together of their long, sometimes painful rapprochement. Over Cosi sandwiches and pizza, the two chit-chatted about Clinton's commute from suburban Chappaqua, the work of the former president's international charitable organization and, oh yes, the presidential campaign.

"I've agreed to do a substantial number of things," Clinton told a small pool of reporters, "Whatever I'm asked to do.''

"We're putting him to work,'' Obama chimed in.

Clinton then helpfully predicted, "Senator Obama will win and win handily.''

"There you go," Obama added. "You can take it from the president of the United States. He knows a little something about politics.''

If that sounds like politics on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, don't be fooled, the two men later assured the world, after their exchange went public.

In a joint statement, Clinton and Obama said: "President Clinton and Senator Obama had a great conversation in Harlem today. They discussed the campaign briefly, but mostly talked about how the world has changed since September 11, 2001.

"Sen. Obama praised the work of the Clinton Foundation around the world and President Clinton applauded Sen. Obama's historic campaign which has inspired millions around the country.

"They also spoke about what the next President can do to help make the economy work for all Americans, as it did under President Clinton, and ensure safety and prosperity far beyond the coming the election. President Clinton said he looks forward to campaigning for Senator Obama later this month."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/11/obama_and_bill_clinton_do_lunc.html

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>
Bill Clinton predicts
an easy win for Barack Obama </font size></center>

L.A. Times - Blog
September 11, 2008

The Ticket opined two weeks ago that Barack Obama would be well-served to avail himself of Bill Clinton's manifold political skills -- pronto.

Today, the man who once dominated Democratic politics and the one who hopes to for years to come took a small step toward merging their interests: Obama trekked to Clinton's Harlem office in New York and had a lunch meeting with the former president.

During a brief chat with reporters before they went behind closed doors, Clinton at least delivered a sound bite favorable to Obama's cause.

With national polls showing John McCain catching a wave after his pick of Sarah Palin as a running mate, Clinton was asked about the state of the race. He replied: "I predict that Sen. Obama will win and win handily."

The perked up Obama, who said: "There you go. You can take it from the president of the United States. He knows a little something about politics."

Clinton, without specifying, said he's "agreed to do a substantial number of things" on behalf of Obama's campaign. "Whatever I’m asked to do," he added.

Most immediately, he'll stump for Obama on Sept. 29 in Florida (where, despite Clinton's optimistic spin, the Democratic ticket needs help; a new poll of the state's voters by Quinnipiac University gives McCain a solid lead).

The pool reporter for the photo op, Martha Moore of USA Today, noted that no handshake was exchanged between the men in the presence of the media.

After the get-together, an Obama aide issued the following statement:

President Clinton and Senator Obama had a great conversation in Harlem today. They discussed the campaign briefly, but mostly talked about how the world has changed since September 11, 2001.

Sen. Obama praised the work of the Clinton Foundation around the world and President Clinton applauded Sen. Obama's historic campaign which has inspired millions around the country.

They also spoke about what the next President can do to help make the economy work for all Americans, as it did under President Clinton, and ensure safety and prosperity far beyond the coming election. President Clinton said he looks forward to campaigning for Senator Obama later this month.​

A Clinton aide told The Times' Peter Nicholas that along with the Florida appearance, the ex-president will raise money for Obama (apparently a growing source of concern within the candidate's camp) as well as hit the road for him "throughout the rest of the cycle.''

The aide said of the two-hour talk between the two: "It went very well.''

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/bill-clinton-pr.html

 

[REMINGTON_BLACK]

keep your friends close.................................

 

[QueEx]

. . . and your enemies . . .

 

[GreedySmurf]

...dead!

 

[QueEx]

Bill Clinton's advice to Barack Obama

<font size="6"><center>
Bill Clinton's advice to Barack Obama</font size></center>

It is not at all clear that Obama particularly
wants Clinton’s advice about how to win the
presidency, but many Democrats believe it is
increasingly clear that he could use it.
Photo: AP


P O L I T I C O
By JOHN F. HARRIS
September 12, 2008


There they were in Harlem on Thursday, the 42nd president and the Democrat who hopes to be the 44th, for a two-hour lunch hour chat at Bill Clinton’s office.

It is not at all clear that Barack Obama particularly wants Clinton’s advice about how to win the presidency — after all, he kept the former president at a cool distance, with just occasional phone calls, for months — but many Democrats believe it is increasingly clear that he could use it.

The fact that Obama is even with or behind John McCain despite so many favorable trends for Democrats shows that there is still plenty he could learn from the master — the political Houdini who is the only Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win two terms.

We do know that Clinton was happy to share his thoughts. He recently offered 10 minutes of “here’s what Obama needs to do” wisdom while standing in the popcorn line with someone he just met at a New York movie theater, according to one Democrat privy to the conversation.

The Clinton-Obama meeting was closed. We don’t know for sure what they said.

But it is not hard to make an educated guess. Here, based on 16 years experience watching Bill Clinton campaign — and interviews with a half-dozen veterans of his political teams — is a reasonably safe bet about his campaign advice to Barack Obama:


1. Don’t make this about you.

Clinton is always skeptical of politicians who try to win races on the basis of their life story or supposed personal virtues. Those can be nice side dishes (“The Man from Hope”) but they can’t be the main entrée. Voters just don’t care that much about you. They care about themselves and what you will do for them. Clinton believes, plausibly, that this is why he emerged from sex scandals and all manner of other controversies with his job approval ratings intact.

“What Bill Clinton always told me is, ‘If we make this about their lives instead of mine, we’ll be better off,'” recalled Paul Begala, who served as strategist in the 1992 election and the second-term White House. “It’s always about the voters, never about the candidates.”

What’s more, the politics of biography can turn in an instant, as happened to John F. Kerry in 2004 when what was supposed to be an asset — Kerry’s Vietnam service — was turned into a distraction and even liability by the Swift Boat Veterans.

Clinton thinks Obama has erred by putting too much focus on himself and on his supposedly transformational brand of politics — it’s too airy, and it puts him at risk of being branded a hypocrite when, as inevitably happens, he needs to play rough.​

2. Define yourself through policies — yours and theirs.

Clinton would often dismiss proposed speech drafts handed him by his staff writers with a mocking phrase, “Words, words, words!”

He has never thought much of Obama’s rhetoric-driven campaign.

While Obama has plenty of policy proposals, there are not many that he has managed to make recognizable signatures, the way Clinton promised to “end welfare as we know it” in 1992.

Most people know Obama claims to represent “Change you can believe in.” But Clinton believes people won’t believe him — or any politician — unless change is defined with specificity. That means describing, in language that sounds plausible rather than partisan, what you believe in versus what the other guy believes in.​

3. Have more fun.

Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton are both obsessed with how — as they see it — Republicans have perfected the art of the bogus attack, the distracting wedge issue, “the politics of personal destruction.”

From the Clinton vantage point, both Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004 lost when they allowed Republicans to get under their skins and hijack their public images.

Obama has hinted that he believes that, too, and has signaled that he will fight back hard.

But that is not as easy as it might sound. A candidate needs to do more than just complain about the unfairness of it all, as when Obama this week shouted “enough!” and denounced “lies, outrage and swift-boat politics.”

The trick is counter-punching without looking rattled, and without letting your opponents set the agenda of the conversation. Though he did not always follow his own advice, Clinton believes humor is one tool that can help a politician connect with audiences and convey toughness rather than whininess.

Mark Penn, the Clintons’ longtime pollster and strategist, said Obama may have listened too closely to people urging him to “fight back, fight back.”

“He’s got to learn how to completely eviscerate the guy with a smile,” he said.​

4. Make the election about something big.

It’s a mistake, Clinton believes, for a presidential nominee of one party to be arguing about the vice presidential nominee of the other party, as Obama has been over Sarah Palin in recent days.
The best way for Obama to convince people he’s ready to be president is by talking about ideas that sound presidential.

During both his presidential runs, Clinton gave major speeches at Georgetown University that were not partisan or even in the strict sense political — they were wide-ranging discourses about where the United States stood at that moment in history.

Clinton believes Obama is on losing terrain if he allows the election to be about pigs and lipstick. Obama needs to soar above that by talking about large themes like energy and global warming, and how to harness the opportunities of a global economy.​

5. Spend more time speaking to your opponents.

Most Democrats, Clinton believes, spend too much time enjoying the cheers of the home crowd — and not enough trying to persuade people who do not already agree with them.

One of his favorite rhetorical tactics is to describe an opponent’s ideas in ways that sound perfectly fair and reasonable — as a prelude to why the opponent is dead wrong.

Successful politicians, he believes, look for opportunities to speak to skeptical audiences. Clinton went to New Hampshire to talk to gun owners — even though many hunters there were furious over passage of a crime bill that hunters feared would take away their guns. “All our guys in Washington thought I was crazier than the March Hare,” Clinton once told me and Mark Halperin. “And they said, ‘Well, you don’t want to talk about this.’ I said, ‘Oh, yes, I do.’”

Obama’s convention speech in Denver was a spirited performance that thrilled Democrats, but did not have enough passages aimed at people who don’t already support him. What’s more, Obama has not taken enough positions that make clear he is not a standard-issue Democrat.​

6. Don’t take Hillary voters for granted.

Obama’s strategists believed that they did not have to worry that much about Hillary Clinton’s female backers, because they figured that most of them were liberal, abortion-rights supporters who will vote for the Democrat even if the nominee was not their first choice.

That was probably true for about two-thirds of those voters, according to one Clinton strategist’s appraisal of polling data. But another one-third of Clinton’s women supporters were more conservative-tilting, working-class women, who were drawn to Clinton because they admired her pluck — and these voters are now a key target group for McCain-Palin.​

<font size="4">7. Stop smoking whatever it is you are smoking. </font size>

In his cool treatment of both Clintons over the summer, and in the way he allowed expectations among Democrats and the news media to build, Obama has acted as if he were on a glide path to a relatively easy victory.

Clinton knows this attitude is delusional. Someone who grew up in Arkansas as the state — and much of the South — was growing more conservative can never forget how hard it is for Democrats to win in what for the past two generations has been a center-right country. Democrats have only won more than 50 percent in a presidb]ential election there twice since 1944. Republicans have done it seven times.

[One important thing to remember:[/b] Obama has never faced a serious race against a Republican. His important victories in Illinois and this year have all been against other Democrats in nomination battles.

Some Clinton allies say this may tend to warp his perspective about how politics works and what kind of issues and stories matter in a presidential context. Bottom line: it does not matter who is getting better coverage in the New York Times.

“This is a new experience for Obama — facing a Republican who will do and say things far different from the Democrats he has faced. Republicans don’t care what Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd or establishment media has to say about them,” said Penn.​

8. And while you are at it, give me an apology.

The meeting in Harlem was friendly, and Obama could hardly have hoped for a more lavish endorsement than he got from Clinton at the Democratic convention in Denver.

But he errs if he thinks the former president does not still have resentments toward Obama, and that those resentments might not surface at unwelcome times, in the view of many former aides.

Simply put, Clinton will never be fully at peace with Obama until the Democratic nominee makes clear — in emphatic words, in public — that Clinton is not in any way racist, and that he did not try to “play the race card” during the Democratic nomination contest, as some commentators have suggested.

There’s no question that Clinton was impolitic in comparing Obama’s victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s victory 20 years earlier. But Clinton is understandably outraged that people would argue this remark negated a career-long commitment to racial equality — and that Obama stood by mute while such charges were made.

Clinton swallowed his medicine with his speech for Obama in Denver. Obama has still not fully swallowed his by making a public defense of Clinton on race.​

John F. Harris, the editor-in-chief of Politico, has written two books about Bill Clinton and his politics, “The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House,” and “The Way to Win; Taking the White House in 2008.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13394_Page3.html

 

[bgbtylvr]

Re: Bill Clinton's advice to Barack Obama

 

[neoafrican]

Hillary Clinton - "does not want to openly challenge Palin..."

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/17/clinton-blindsided-palin/

Fauxnews.com

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton has pulled out of an appearance at a New York rally next week to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because she doesn’t want to be seen alongside Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a “partisan” event, her aides say .

Several American Jewish groups plan a major rally outside the United Nations on Monday. Clinton had initially accepted an invitation to join, but her aides objected when they learned Palin will also be part of the rally. The Alaska governor is also expected to meet with several foreign ministers during the U.N.’s opening General Assembly session.

“[Palin's] attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event,” Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said Wednesday. “Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending.”

A spokeswoman for John McCain’s presidential campaign said Palin still plans to attend, despite the perceived slight.

“Governor Palin believes that the danger of a nuclear Iran is greater than party or politics. She hopes that all parties can rally together in opposition to this grave threat,” said spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.

The rally is being hosted by several Jewish groups, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

Both McCain and Barack Obama have made strong appeals to Jewish voters, particularly in critical states like Florida. Obama has emphasized to Jewish audiences his commitment to Israel’s security, and he has worked to dispel doubts created by false rumors that he is Muslim.

Clinton, a New York senator and former Democratic presidential candidate, has generally been supported by American Jews. But Micah Halperin, a Middle East expert and syndicated columnist, said it is “problematic” that she decided to back out.

Halperin, who is Jewish and called Clinton “a far better candidate” for Democrats than Obama, suggested that her actions could backfire on the Democratic ticket.

“Jews traditionally vote Democratic, and if a major Democratic leader does not join in the fight against Iran, where are those voters going to go?” he asked. “It’s problematic from the very point of view that says you have a national political leader who fundamentally is choosing not to stand up against Ahmadinejad.

“It changes my view of [Clinton's] wisdom, of her ability to take a situation, analyze it and come out on the right side, and that is deeply troubling to almost every voter in America, not just Jewish voters,” Halperin said, adding that Clinton’s move “is the kind of thing” that could tip voters toward McCain.

FOX News contributor and National Public Radio correspondent Juan Williams said Clinton, whose presidential aspirations are far from over, wants to campaign for Obama but does not want to challenge Palin because it would hurt her standing with white, working-class women.

“I think the big bump that McCain has gotten since the convention has been with white, working-class women, the older women especially who were the core of Hillary Clinton support,” Williams said.

He added that Bill and Hillary Clinton are glad to support Obama, but they don’t want to take on Palin because “it would be shooting down” the ticket.

“A lot of people think that it just invites comparisons between Palin and Obama on the experience issue, and that doesn’t benefit Obama,” Williams said.

Palin is scheduled to meet several foreign ministers while she is in New York. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the decision to send Palin to the U.N. was “an excellent idea” by the McCain campaign. He said Palin can now use the opportunity to enhance her foreign policy credentials and add to her debate preparation against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden. That debate is scheduled for Oct. 2 in St. Louis.

“Now in the debate with Senator Biden, Governor Palin will be able to say, ‘Well I was discussing with foreig nminister X just a few weeks ago,’ and then go from there,” Bolton said. “She doesn’t really have to go beyond where Senator McCain has already traveled, but it’s a good way to say, as they do in diplomatic circles, ‘to exchange views.’ I just think she ought to be herself and listen attentively and it will go fine.”

FOX News’ Shushannah Walshe and Mosheh Oinounou and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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I could say a bunch of shit here - but you folks already know...

 

[MASTERBAKER]

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Love it, he's 100% correct, Obama didn't want any debates, he had to be goaded into doing two. As expected, the left isn't happy with Bubba.....


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ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman Reports: Former President Bill Clinton defended Sen. John McCain's request to delay the first presidential debate, saying McCain did it in "good faith" and pushed organizers to reserve time for economy talk during the debate if the Friday plans move forward.

Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, Clinton told ABC News' Chris Cuomo that McCain's push to postpone the debate would only be a good political move if both candidates agreed. McCain announced on Wednesday that he would "suspend" his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill

"We know he didn't do it because he's afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates," Clinton said.

"You can put it off a few days the problem is it's hard to reschedule those things," Clinton said, "I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted -- I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don't think we ought to overly parse that."

 

[VegasGuy]

Clinton says Obama has better answers on economy

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON,
Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 1, 4:12 PM ET

Former President Clinton set aside his cool relationship with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday to condemn Republican economic policies as well as endorse his wife's ex-rival.

For his first campaign trail appearance on Obama's behalf, Clinton appeared in the swing state of Florida, whose 27 electoral votes are seen as central to Republican John McCain's hopes for victory. George W. Bush won the state in 2000, after a disputed recount, and again in 2004. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Obama with a 51-43 percent lead over McCain among likely voters.

Clinton talked at length about the nation's problems, particularly the financial mess Congress is handling, and told a crowd of several thousand that Obama would be better at finding answers.

"Here's why you ought to be for Barack Obama," Clinton said. "He's got better answers. Better answers for the economy, for energy, for health care, for education. He knows what it will take to get this country back on track."

Clinton didn't speak Obama's name until five minutes into his 22-minute speech and mentioned wife Hillary Rodham Clinton's voter outreach group when explaining why he came to Florida: "Hillary sent me."

At one point Clinton heaped higher praise on Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, than on Obama or his own wife, saying that no one in the Senate understands economic and security challenges like Biden. Obama, Hillary Clinton and McCain are also in the Senate.

Clinton did praise Obama for his approach to the country's economic crisis, saying that Obama had asked him and other economic advisers for help.

"You know what he said? 'Show me what the problem is and how to fix it and don't bother me with the politics. Let's do the right thing,'" Clinton said.

"There's a lot of pessimism and doom and gloom and ... people are waking up with their guts in a knot, worried about the economy," Clinton said. "America has a choice — we can worry about these things, or we can do something about it."

Clinton gave a similar speech in Fort Pierce later Wednesday before a crowd of several thousand at an outdoor waterfront event in sweltering heat where several people fainted.

"Someone just fainted, and I know its cause of the heat because at my age I know I don't have that much juice anymore," he said to laughter.

At both events, Clinton mentioned neither McCain nor his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sara Palin, by name, but he did say Obama's "got a better vice presidential partner."

Clinton has been criticized by some in his party for refusing to attack McCain. "You don't have to say one bad word about Sen. Obama's opponent," he told the crowd, "you just have to tell them the truth."

link to the rest

-VG

 

[QueEx]

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