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January 11, 2008
It's Time For Bubba To Be Quiet
How does the old saying go? When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Someone ought to tell that to former President Bill Clinton. (For the record, Houtopia has taken no public position backing any candidate in the 2008 presidential race, voted for Bill Clinton twice and is overall a fan of the former president.)
Over the last few weeks, Bill Clinton has taken to the campaign trail as attack dog in-chief on behalf of wife Hillary. Our take: Bubba has hurt her more than he's helped her. First of all, he looks terrible. Gaunt, yet puffy in the face, the former president simply hasn't looked healthy since his major heart surgery a few years ago. Not a compelling campaign visual in a year about change and the future, and when the opposition is a spry 46 year-old.
Neither has Bill Clinton been particularly stellar on the stump. Stories abounded from New Hampshire of lackluster speeches that spurned early exits by many audience members. It's been a long time since he's done this, and he's clearly not the campaigner he once was. (Hey, most candidates -- including Hillary -- would kill to have Bill's campaigning skills even on a bad day, but nonetheless...)
It is President Clinton's comments to the media, however, which have in our judgment done the most damage to HRC's efforts and his own reputation among Democrats. That old Clintonian parsing is back. From statements claiming he always opposed the Iraq War (statements at odds with the public record), to attacking Obama's public comments on the war, attacks which conveniently omit Obama's full comments, to declaring Barack's candidacy a "fairy tale" (and then today denying that's what he said), Bill has reminded America of the Clintons' casual relationship with the truth and thus done Hillary's campaign no favors.
The former president has also adopted a whining, petulant tone of late about the media's overall coverage of the Democratic nomination process. We don't think this tactic has served HRC's campaign well either. To us, it communicates outrage from Team Clinton that anyone would dare challenge their right to another tour in the White House - a notion that is offensive on many levels.
Our particularly favorite Bill Clinton jab at Obama is that he is young and inexperienced and would be a "risk" as president. Exactly what does Clinton think he was in 1992, when he was actually younger than Obama is now? Nice try, Bill.
Hillary's operation seems to have grasped that Bubba has not necessarily been a net positive to the campaign of late. You notice he has been a less visible presence on the campaign since the narrow New Hampshire victory Tuesday night. Of course, as the Clinton campaign attempts to better define HRC as a forward-looking change agent, trotting out Bill Clinton to build a bridge back to the 90s doesn't exactly work with the message.
So, it will be interesting to see if the Clinton campaign continues to try and minimize Bill's public profile going into the big nomination contests, or if Bubba continues to yack it up and further damage Hillary's prospects. If today is any indication, his three days in timeout are over.
Posted by houtopia at January 11, 2008 03:40 PM
Comments
I dunno.
I think people still like former President Clinton. A lot. And quite likely, a lot more than his wife.
The notion that he's a liability didn't work out too well for Al Gore. I bet his wife doesn't make the same mistake.
Posted by: kevin whited at January 11, 2008 08:13 PM
They do still like him - I still like him. That doesn't mean, however, he isn't capable of pissing people off.
I have heard from a number of Democrats in recent days that they feel Bill has embarassed himself in recent days - I concur.
Remember, Al Gore enjoys a lovefest from liberals these days, but he ruffled a lot of feathers among Democrats in 2004 (including this one who was working for Wes Clark) when he endorsed Dean in the primary. People have forgiven him, but it didn't lessen the anger at the time.
Long term, Bill Clinton will remain popular, but he absolutely can do short-term damage to Hillary's candidacy. He should tread carefully.
Posted by: houtopia at January 11, 2008 11:53 PM
The legacy of the Clinton administration, with its robust economy, booming stock market, no wars, and only a few short military strikes using air power, should be a positive for the HRC campaign. But as you have noted Bill also has the capacity to inflict damage on the campaign effort. Therefore his campaign trail performance to date makes it legitimate to speculate as to what role Bill would play in his wife’s Presidency. I would venture to guess that there would occur at least one and maybe more embarrassing incidents where Bill might state to the press that he disagrees with his wife’s policies or actions. The worst might be something along the lines of: “She certainly didn’t consult me when she made that decision.” Its clear that Bill does not really like being upstaged by his wife, and he might have trouble filling all his free time when he is excluded from the Oval Office discussions, which leaves open the possibility of another White House sex scandal. So it will be interesting to see if the campaign can indeed reign in Bill and also further explain and clarify his role in a Hillary White House.
Posted by: ChrisR at January 15, 2008 12:10 PM