| Obama Turns To Slick Willy To Sell Economic Message |
| Jul-30-2012 |
| Keywords: obama, bill clinton, convention speech, economy, messenger |
The White House is turning to former President Bill Clinton to make up for the failures of our current commander in chief. That is the deduction being made by many in both the media and beltway insiders.
Clinton is going to play a pivotal role in selling the president's message during next month's Democratic convention next month, delivering a primetime address that the president's inner circle hopes will help bolster support among white, working-class voters.
"[Clinton] is incredibly effective at talking about the economy and reminds Americans of our last period of prosperity," explained Howard Wolfson, the deputy mayor of New York City and a former senior adviser to then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential bid.
That kind of effective messaging on the economy is something that President Obama has simply not been achieve. Last week, polls found that voters had a more favorable view of Mitt Romney than the president when it came to the economy. And an overwhelming majority of business owners disapproved of the president's policies.
But news of the Clinton's primetime address is a double-edged sword. "There will be people who say it helps Obama, but they're already voting for him," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "And it will just remind people that Obama is no Bill Clinton when it comes to the economy."
Fox News columnist Chris Stirewalt commented, "It is evidence of how concerned Obama is about blue-collar white voters that he would give such a dangerous ally - and a man who must surely have considered many times how an Obama defeat would set the stage for his family's restoration to power - such a prominent role."
Many so-called Clinton Democrats - particularly politicians who backed the former president's wife over Obama in the bitter 2008 Democratic primaries - are skipping Charlotte altogether and growing strains on the uneasy truce between Obama's liberal wing of the party and the more moderate Clinton faction.
Giving Clinton the coveted speaking slot rather than the more conventional choice of the incumbent's running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, is no doubt an effort to show unity and lend some star power to the beleaguered convention.
Not only is Obama on track to lose North Carolina by a stout margin, but the convention has been beset by troubles including labor unions angry about having to bankroll a massive event in a right-to-work state, same-sex-marriage activists infuriated by the state's recent enactment of a stringent ban of the practice, and chaos within the state party. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 PM Email to a friend |
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