He doesn't want mccain to win, he is just unable to like or praise obama.

I just wish he would shut up until November 5. He clearly doesn't like Obama taking away his crown and his lack of enthusiasm only hurts his legacy further. Hillary was his ticket back to the White House and Obama punched it. I believe deep down he wants Obama to lose. He can't stand not being top dog. I've stopped paying any attention to him. He should stick to his Global Initiative, which has suddenly become very important to McCain. He is the politics of the past and he doesn't know what to do about that.

I am watching it as we speak, I truly hope you are joking. I rather not be unbelievably po'd after I watch this.

President Clinton's Global Initiative is bigger than this election.

He actually helps people but needs gop money to do it.

He will not bash them because he needs them. Our government is broken due to lobbyist influence. The bailout was another lobbyist victory and they always win.

His Global Initiative works, our government does not.

So, keep this in mind when you attack the President of your party and call him a racist.

He is saving lives in Africa and the world. Instead of sending money to corrupt politicians, his initiative is a better investment.

I think the only course of action since is to send yo complaints to the Obama campaign which is too stupid to realize President Clinton's subterfuge. Demand that President Clinton not campaign for Obama.

To reach the Campaign Headquarters by phone, please call: (866) 675-2008

You can contact us by mail at:
Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Bill likes her mouth and she wears fuck-me pumps. Of course he thinks she's impressive. She a piece he hasn't had yet.

You can write a million blogs, all complaining about the Clintons, and it will not change them one bit. They are what they are.

Stop drawing attention to them, and away from the ticket. They are not in this election.

Obama/Biden 2008

Stay focused on the prize, instead of putting a spotlight on the past.

We have an election to win. Work on that, instead of wasting time on the past.

I said it before, in a blog that slid down into the land of lost blogs a bit quicker than I might have wished:

Bill is Bill. If you think he's going to be anything other than a mixed blessing to Obama's campaign, you weren't paying attention to what he was to Hillary's campaign. Bill wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Always been that way, always will be. It is alternately endearing and exasperating, helpful or harmful to himself and everyone around him, and it always will be. Expecting him to be a less complicated presence in the general than he was in the primaries is ridiculously unrealistic.

My larger point in that post remains. Comments like this from Bill are annoying, but ultimately I think they are, on balance, harmless. What may not be harmless is for the rank and file to restart the arguments of the primaries, whatever the perceived provocation or justification. The stakes are too high now for us to engage in foodfights.

So Jan,

Just read the Reuters account of this interview and they really don't describe things the way you do. Are you sure you're not being overly sensitive here?

Clinton says he wants Obama to win, he said that Hillary told him that Obama is brilliant and he says that McCain is a "great man," but that he prefers Obama as president.

I'm angry about him saying that McCain is a great man given that McCain voted to convict Clinton during the impeachment fiasco of 1999. Bill should never forgive anybody who voted to convict and nobody who attemped to overturn an election is a great man. Indeed, McCain's politically calculated vote is proof that he was never a maverick.

It is sad to see Clinton say anything nice about a guy who voted to impeach him. So, yeah, I have my issues. But I think your take on Clinton's statement is wrong. He's certainly not "campaigning for McCain."

...taped the show myself and watch the complete interview later but the little I did catch, I wasn't under the same impression of Bill's continous back-stabbing Obama. Pres Clinton seemed to try to impress upon the notion that he does have "respect" and "admiration" for Obama, you just have to pull it out of him (Clinton) with steel plyers...

....we can't get inside of Pres Clinton's head and pretend to know what he's exactly thinking, but there is one young lady who did get "inside"....

He was lampooned on SNL for his tepid support of Obama:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/28/snl-anna-faris-sketches-t_n_129980.html

Obama/Biden 2008

Obama/Biden 2008

Obama/Biden 2008

What part of that do people not understand.

Everybody just STFU about that pair who should and shall remain nameless. They are not on our ticket.

Obama/Biden 2008. Do you want to elect them, or would you prefer to spend the short time that we have left, pissing and moaning about someone that you will not change.

Keep your eyes on the prize. The Supreme Court is the ultimate prize, especially for the rights of women. Obama/Biden 2008

video link yet?

If you look at his interview on The Daily Show a few nights ago (available on their website), it is crystal clear that Clinton wants Obama to win. I will grant you, there is this Clintonian way (maybe, more accurately, a Clinton-centric way) that he says it. But look at the end of the second part of that interview, and Jon Stewart's reaction to it -- there is no question whose side the Clintons are on in this election - Obama. And they know, as well as most of us do deep down inside -- even if we can't believe it -- that Obama is going to win in a "not nearly as close as some have been thinking" election, because you do not get to preside over 7 years of financial problems capped by a near total financial collapse and taxpayer bailout, and also behave as McCain has done recently (especially since he launched his dishonest negative mid-summer television campaign, then the Palin selection, then the bailout drama queen stunt, and now the angry, bullying and ultimately small debate performance, which clearly evidences his temperament problem for 57+ Million viewers, including especially independents) and still win. The GOP is toast, from top to bottom. Clinton is no fool - the writing is on the wall, and the polls that are now swinging dramatically in Obama's direction don't even come close to reflecting the Democrats' enthusiasm, registration and ground game advantages, which are huge.

So let's stop overreacting and making things up, like Clinton wants McCain to win. It feeds a false narrative that you need to stop. Clinton is trying to attract the unconverted -- the voters who don't already want to vote for Obama. Havng him be more overtly partisan in his attacks on McCain does little or nothing to accomplish that objective. As he pointed out on Meet the Press, he is seeking to appeal to people who are not as antagonistic towards McCain as we are, but who like a lot of what Obama has to say, but don't fully trust him (or understand that McCain is, from a policy perspective, a continuation of the same bad government, favor the rich, approach they are hurting from now).

Don't mistake his Clintonian way of expressing himself on the mainstream media -- which is aimed at those voter -- with the true substance of what he is saying unreservedly, which is that the Republicans MUST be defeated in 2008, from top to bottom. Whether he likes or loves Obama is quite beside the point -- to Clinton, he is more than good enough and if Bill wants to credit Hillary for that (which is not entirely unfair -- her campaign sharpened his skills considerably), so be it. As Obama says, it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care about who gets the credit. So let instead of accusing Clinton for seeming not to want to go far enough to support Obama, let's credit both Hillary and him for their extraordinary contributions and for doing anything they do to help. Keep the eyes on winning, I could give a sh*t less who gets the credit.

Here is the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN4to3u-wSQ

As an ex-President, he has the responsibility to this party to campaign in a manner asked on him by the campaign. This is traditional. (Recall that Gore asked Clinton to stand down in 2000 because Clinton wasn't necessarily all that popular with the swing voters... at least that was the theory at the time.)

Clinton is not enthusiastic. He should enthusiasm when discussing Hillary. Not here.

And, let's focus on the body language. Ask that famous 8-year old if he thinks that Bill Clinton is talking about ice cream or brussel sprouts in this video?

"And here is the text of the relevant part of that interview...

MR. BROKAW: You know, we like to keep track of records here on MEET THE PRESS, as you're well aware of. We looked at this interview that Tim did with you a year ago at the Clinton Initiative--Global Initiative, and at that time you predicted that John McCain would be the Republican nominee, at a time when a lot of people thought he was...
PRES. CLINTON: He was dead.

MR. BROKAW: ...toast, in political terms. But you said as well, at that time, "I've disagreed with him, but I have admired him." And then to Maria Bartiromo last week you said, "I have never concealed my admiration and affection for Senator McCain. I think he's a great man. But I think on the issues, that matter to our future, the Obama-Biden team is more right."

PRES. CLINTON: I do believe that. I think Senator Obama has shown a remarkable ability to learn and grow in this campaign. He always was highly intelligent and always a very good politician. He, he got the change--the fundamental change in, in the calendar of this Democratic primary process of which we were engaged, his energy program kept getting better through the campaign, his healthcare program kept getting better. I, I, I think what you want in a president at a time like this is somebody with good instincts who generally starts in a right position and then just keeps getting better and that's what he's done.

MR. BROKAW: Would you use the same words for him that you have used for Senator McCain, that you admire him and that you think he's a good...

PRES. CLINTON: I certainly...

MR. BROKAW: ...and that he's a great man?

PRES. CLINTON: Well, I don't, look, I had my first conversation with him in my entire life in Harlem.

MR. BROKAW: You had never talked to him before that meeting.

PRES. CLINTON: No, I'd talked to him, but always in passing. I did a fundraiser for him when he ran for the Senate in 2004. I saw him briefly at Senator Kennedy's 75th birthday party. I had always, you know, I always--Hillary's the one who told me to go help him. She said, "This guy's got real skills. He's got almost unlimited potential." And I--she--so I did and I've always thought he was a really commanding presence. What I mean by saying that about McCain is, you know, most people would've been broken by what he went through. Oh, we would've been happy just to give him an "atta boy" and a medal and let him wander through life. I, I think his greatness is that he keeps trying to come back to service without ever asking people to cut him any slack or feel sorry for him or any of that stuff because he was a POW. But I, I genuinely, you know, I am developing a really good relationship with Senator Obama and I certainly admire him. And I know he saw and imagined the way this thing could develop, this political year and this, and this economic situation in a way that is left him in a position of leadership that he's in now. And I think that the rest of us should admire that. That's a big part of leadership, being able to sense, as well as see the future.

MR. BROKAW: But I get the sense that you think that he has the potential for greatness, but he's not yet arrived at that station.

PRES. CLINTON: Well, he would probably agree with that. I mean, he was, you know, until he was in the State Senate until 2005 and then he began a campaign for president, which is, in all probability, will be successful, and those are very great accomplishments. But those are personal accomplishments. When he becomes president, he'll be doing things for the American people and for the world and he is--and the greatness will then become apparent because of the good he'll do. And I, I think that's what I very much believe is going to happen."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/bill-clinton-on-barack-ob_b_130019.html

This guy has a different take. I guess he does not hate the President of his party and understands the President needs gop money to help others in the world.

What have you done to help others like the President?

Shame on you.

What a shabby, contemptible little buffoon Bill Clinton turned out to be.

Clinton is 100% supporting Obama. Stop this ridiculous tirade! If he were to come across as a party hack or a campaign official he would destroy his credibility and would be useless to anybody. He's his own person, an ex-president, a Democrat and an Obama supporter.

PhadScad

ok... if you can show me another surrogate and their comments even similar to those by BC then I'm sure these comments would stop...

good luck though (HRC does not count).

Get ready to see an internet ad by McCain with the "great" comments.

Dijamo, So let me get this straight. I wrote this diary at a little after 10 am this morning. You have written paragraphs with multiple posts about me and how I only want to increase tension between Democrats, and that I am a one-sided writer. You even corrected my "paraphrase" to "Editorialize" to describe my take on this interview before noon.

Now, at almost 3 pm you have finally watched the interview! And now you have even more to say about it. Many respondents have written here today without seeing it, and have managed to do so honestly in a way to try to figure out what was going on.

You are just a fraud. You have just proved yourself to be what you accuse me (wrongly)of doing. You had a pre-formed opinion and you could write on and on, criticizing what I wrote and my motives for doing so based on your own predispositions as though you knew what you were writing about!

Can't wait to see you youtube. If I were like you I'd have a critique of it all ready to go.

gosh i am sick of djamo and her clinton spin.....clinton wants obama to lose....

no one is asking clinton to bad mouth mccain but certainly it doesnt help matters when he is out praising mccain and mute on obama....if he hates obama (which clearly he does and i am not faulting him for being hateful, spiteful and jealous), at least show your impartiality by refraining from praising one over the other.....

djamo is alive and well on every post to defend bill c....where is she when obama is doing well? she is mute.....and that is ok.....to be honest djamo, you are a better surrogate for obama than clinton....you dont like obama and you do not hide that fact...you cant get over the fact that clintons lost and that is fine...you say you will cast that vote for obama no matter what and that is fine....so far, i have yet to see you defending mccain and that is fine...i have yet to see you tearing mccain apart and that is fine...now please tell me why someone as accomplished as clinton doesnt get it and you do??????

geesh!

Here's the transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26927711/page/4/

My two cents. CVille has stated the case too strongly, but Clinton did seem defensive, and his praise of Obama was weak, especially in comparison to his praise of McCain. You get the sense that there's no spirit in his endorsement. What Bill needs to do if he really means to help is to convince fence-sitters to vote Obama. I don't think that he did that effectively in this interview.

First let me say I love and respect both Bill and Hillary. Is Bill campaigning for McCain? Yes! There is no other way of spinning this fact. He is basically saying: McCain is a great man; he loves and scarifies for this country, and deserves to be president. About Obama, Bill is saying: Obama is a skilled politician, and I will do everything to let the country know that I don’t like the man. Period.

You can't trust Bill at all. He puts Bill first. Not country. He has a lot in common with McLame....

Clinton was perfect. He is now a statesman. He gives McCain his due, thanking him for his service, and without anything overt or even detectable, conveys the sense that McCain's time is past. Clinton knows what people will vote for this election. They want a break with the past. Denigrating McCain isn't what's needed from him; the edges of Obama's campaign will do that. He is needed for the sober sage's assessment of what the big trend is. And the big trend (as the polls show) is for the new, not the old.

Yes, some clutches of footage from this interview might work in a McCain ad, but when watched in its entirety its message is clearly for change instead of experience.

A subtle and convincing turn by the master.

This is my first day off from working for Barack Obama. I have been canvassing, handing out buttons, and talking talking talking. I have personally registered more than 30 new voters. I agree with many of you who say I have an "overly sensitive" view of things. I felt huge frustration this am when I saw this interview and wrote about it right away. I'm not sorry I did, because I do think we need to hash things out, but it has gone on too long. I really didn't intend for this to be divisive, but I have contributed to the divisiveness by reacting defensively.

I agree with Liam and the Former NC Steve who say -- let's move on! Let's all get back to work and remember why we're here.

A little anecdote: Many years ago I was at the Kennedy Center for an event. As we were leaving, we were suddenly stopped and not allowed to move forward. The President, Bill Clinton was leaving. He was only a couple of feet from me, and I remember wishing he would just look my way. He is probably the sexiest guy I ever saw -- no kidding! Tall, and of course, handsome. Hillary and Chelsey were with him, but all eyes were on Bill.

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with this thread, but I hardly ever get to tell it. I now officially call this -- Closed!

Thank you, Thank you very much!

It doesn't matter.

None of this will possibly matter until Nov. 5th and depending on the outcome, it may be irrelevant then.

Hillary Clinton is doing a fine job supporting Obama, as best I can tell (her video meeting with Biden was excellent!) ... and Bill is Bill. In terms of the body-language discussion going on about the debate, he's not a true alpha but got to fill that role for a long while and now he's being supplanted in the lead role by a true alpha -- and no, he's NOT going to like it. There's no way he could; we shouldn't expect it of him; and there will be time enough after Nov. 4th to pick apart the dynamics of how he handled the situation (if it still matters) because nothing any of us says now, pro or con, is going to sway his behavior.

Nothing matters now except the election: if he helps a bit, by not alienating McCain and Palin supporters but giving them a reason to vote for Obama .. great! If he undercuts support for Obama, too bad but nothing anyone can do about it now.

There WILL BE TIME to sort this all out after the election, for anyone who still cares at that point. To the extent 'alpha wannabe' tendencies are causing the problem, that issue will be moot if Obama wins. To the extent there is remaining resentment from the primaries my sense is that it's genuine hurt that WJC wasd "attacked as a racist and a race-baiter." Maybe it will be worth an inquest on that point, since it appears to matter a lot. I daresay I watched the primaries as closely as any of you, and I believe there no time that Obama or his campaign did anything remotely approaching making such attacks -- others, obviously see it differently, and so maybe it's worth revisiting the record and figuring out what happened. BUT NOT NOW! Not at this moment.

I don't have any problem with the original post - we should be able to express our thoughts and feelings. But I do have serious problems with this much energy going into the issue right now. McCain would be utterly delighted that we are managing to distract ourselves so well, since that - above all - is what he wants to happen: for Obama-Biden supporters to take their eye off the prize and deflect their emotions and energies in a different direction.

McCain and Palin in charge of this country is a terrifying prospect. To me, everything else pales in comparison.

Geeze, people - some of you could be said to be - overly analytical.

Look at the polls. Does it REALLY look as if Obama needs a single bit of help from Blowjob Bill?

Bill says he will do whatever is asked of him. I agree with Obama - there is no nEed to ask ANYTHING OF HIM.

Obama does not need the 'Great White Hope's help - in ANY arena.

He and his campaign group are the leaders of the Democratic Party now.

Congrats, just keep hitting Clinton no matter what the record really is. The Obamaista knee jerk reactions here are pretty sickening. Did somoene once say "Cult"?

So.. this went pretty well, huh?

readytoblow, you are missing my point which is expected....i am not advocating defamation of character against anyone...i just wish bill would talk about the policies more and stop kissing mccains hiney....mccain was the one who pointed out how ugly chelsea clinton is not obama...all obama did was play a tough game and he won....if clinton continues to be a sore loser, he will once again hurt hillary in the process...his bitterness didnt help hillary against obama and it certainly wont help her chances in 2012 should it come to that.....

i repeat, no one is expected to bare arms on behalf of obama, but as a surrogate, talk about the issues/policies and stop praising the opponent, especially if you cannot muster such praise for your teammate......you people are purposely pretending not to understand why it is offensive and counterproductive for our side...we appear a house divided...it is ok with me that bill c dislike obama....it is ok with me that obama cant stand bill c..what is not ok is for them to selfishly screw us all over b/c they cant get over the outcome of a tight race....it appears to me that obama has been over it....bill c on the other hand need a little bit of help....

And of course, OF COURSE! this gets 80 fucking recs!

Sorry NCSteve, but this applies today: Insane, irrational cultists.

The word "officially" means "officially." You are a liar and this is a totally false headline. Obama has known from the beginning that he had to win without any help whatsoever from anyone named Clinton, and that is just how he is going to do it. To emphasize the importance of Bill Clinton's statements is to still worship Clinton in a backhanded way. Begone.

I felt the same doubt about his expressing conviction for Obama, but I believe he may be right; that his job may be to bring in the undecided voters to Obama who generally like the job he (Clinton) did, and they like the old McCain too, like he does. We don't need him to preach to the choir. I'd give him some slack.

I think we should stop bringing in/dismissing Bill Clinton for these reasons:

1.) His wife was Barack's primary rival and asking him to pretend that he has no hard feelings about it is ridiculous.

2.) Bill Clinton is hardly the most astute political individual on the planet. I say this because I voted for and defended the man for all eight of his years. From Whitewater to Monica, from Travelgate to Marc Rich, every single scandal the Clinton administration pursued or was accused of pursuing had at least one defender outside of the administration and that was me. SO, I am plenty qualified to judge Bill Clinton. Factually, he did not win a majority of the electorate in either presidential campaign he ran. He is one of just three presidents to win two terms without ever winning a majority. His advice or his opinions are his, for sure, but they shouldn't be given the weight that people give them. He won two races in which both elections involved strong third party candidates.

3.) We've been down this road. In 2004, he told Kerry to focus on, of all places, his home state of Arkansas, down 15 points with three weeks to go before the end. Kerry did and, not surprisingly, lost Arkansas and a slew of other states.

4.) Bill's interests are somewhat unclear. For example, if Obama wins Hillary's White House dream is in trouble.

Let's give Bill some time off.

One of the saddest things about this campaign is that people who --- like me --- greatly admired and respected Bill Clinton have with great regret had to revise their opinion of him.

In my long list of reasons for hoping Obama wins, near the bottom but definitely there, is that this selfish and mean-spirited and unpatriotic couple will thereby lose much of the power they have in the Democratic party.

Evidently David Rockefeller and his minions are none too pleased with not being able to pick one of their own for the first time since 1960. Interesting also that WJC made a point of praising his fellow minions but not Barack. And whatever can they do? Obama backed by Biden backed by Pelosi - lol! This is sure to delay their fantasy, and their pieces aren't in place to just blow it all apart. Then again, Barack did mention Kissinger rather reverently the other night. Hmmmmm. I wonder where he stands on the whole '5 billion or 1 billion' issue...
Interesting times on our little rock, to be sure.

I agree that it has less to do with the present election than some comments indicate. Like Obama, Clinton did not serve his country in the Military. From what I understand, McCain backed Bill Clinton on certain reforms of the Military which Clinton would not have been able to implement without McCain's influence. That influence resides on McCain's military sevice and POW past.
Obama is a "Chicken-Hawk", a president like George Bush who will send others into military action while he, himself, did not serve.

Calm down. Bill Clinton wanted his wife to win, gave it his all, and now we expect him to forget everything and fall madly in love with Obama?

Yes.