I wrote the following comment in response to a blog entry sarcastically suggesting that Bill Clinton is officially campaigning for McCain now.  I don't think it's true, but I think there is a brader point Clinton himself has been making that we really need to come to grips with, and why we need to stop overreacting to some perceived sleight to Obama that seems to be coming from Bill Clinton:

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's.  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 don't 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 this ridiculous notion that Clinton wants McCain to win. It feeds a false narrative that we 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 Obama's 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 instead of accusing Clinton for seeming not to want to go far enough to support Obama, let's credit both Hillary and Bill  for their extraordinary contributions to the campaign, and for doing anything they do to help. Keep the focus on winning, not who gets the credit.