November 27, 2007 10:33 PM
Flashes of Bill-iance
CLICK HERE for a related story from Wednesday's paper.
View larger image Photo by M.E. Sprengelmeyer
In Democratic politics, former President Bill Clinton can be like a blinding light.
Whether you consider him brilliant or not, when he’s on stage he has a tendency to obscure those standing around him.
That includes his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
That could be one reason why he’s mostly campaigning solo these days.
On Tuesday, he sang his wife’s praises at small town stops in eastern Iowa, the more Democrat-friendly half of the state where Sen. Clinton has pinned her hopes of winning a tight, three-way battle with Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.
View image larger Photo by M.E. Sprengelmeyer
In the back of a crowd at the YMCA in Muscatine – once the button-making capital of the planet – we found an astute political analyst in big, blue overalls who explained the former president’s role in his wife’s campaign.
Albert Krise, 58, a retired Teamster truckdriver and warehouseman from Cottage Grove, said that if he had to decide a contest between the two Clintons, he’d vote for Hillary. Still, Krise said she lacks something her husband most definitely has: “The Mouth.”
Like former Vice President Al Gore in 2000, Sen. Clinton is not the greatest public speaker, Krise said.
“She needs a P.R. man,” or public relations specialist, to speak up for her, he said.
“Gore, he was a good guy. But he didn’t have ‘The Mouth’ on him to do the P.R. work,” Krise said. “I consider him (Bill Clinton) to be a P.R. man.”
Photo by M.E. Sprengelmeyer
So on Tuesday, the former president put his formidable mouth to work.
* He praised some of his wife’s rivals by name – Sens. Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. And as for Obama and Edwards, well, when they have something to say, “I read it with interest,” Bill Clinton said more faintly.
* (Repeating a well-worn line) he said he’d campaign for Hillary even if they never married, because she’s the best-prepared, non-incumbent running for president in his 40 years of voting. In fact, he said later, if he was going into a fierce battle and could take only one person, it would be her, because she’s the kind of person who would fight “until the last dog dies.”
* He spoke about the need to rebuild the U.S. military, which is stretched so thinly in Afghanistan and Iraq that “we’re now using the reserve Reserve with this obsession and refusal to change course in Iraq.” For example, he told the story of “my Navy cook” – a reservist -- who was ordered to take Army infantry training and recently shipped out to Kuwait.
* He hit all of the high points in his wife’s standard stump speech, but with colorful, grandiose terms you couldn’t imagine coming out of her mouth. On the shift to a clean energy economy, for example, he said, “This is not eating castor oil. It’s the greatest economic opportunity you’ve ever seen.”
In short, it was Bill Clinton being Bill Clinton. And the audience seemed to eat it up.
Still, as we report in Wednesday morning’s Rocky Mountain News HERE, that doesn’t necessarily mean his magic will rub off on her.
Outside the event, we met Evelyn Reed, a woman who waited in the cold just to get a glimpse of Clinton as he departed the Muscatine event. When she finally spotted his bright white hair from half a football field away, she said (for the third time in ten minutes) that he was “the best president we’ve had in a long time…”
So, did that mean she’d caucus for his former First Lady?
Nope, Reed said. Obama is her man.
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POST SCRIPT: Yes, this is silly. But we can't resist pointing out one of the very, very strict rules that was posted in the gym where former President Clinton spoke. (Facebook users can see a related video tour of the gym at the "Back Roads to the White House" facebook group HERE.)
Photo by M.E. Sprengelmeyer
November 29, 2007
11:22 AM
Roni Bell writes:
DSS,
Pardon the political incorrectness, but I'd venture he'd be the "elephant in the middle of the room."
November 29, 2007
9:53 AM
DSS writes:
I am always amazed that in discussing Bill, there is virtually no discussion as to what his role would be in a Hillary White House. Would she sit behind the oval office desk while he sat in a side chair? Would she seek his advice? Would he offer it without her asking? Would he be the star at any White House State Dinner? We obviously have never had two Presidents in the White House for more than a casual visit, certainly never have we had two that slept together. (That we know of.) Would his speeches reflect her policies? If not, would that weaken her positions? Would her cabinet and aides look to Bill for his thoughts and reactions? The American people ought to ask her and him and themselves about how this would work or not work. (Of course, if she makes him Ambassador to Antarctica I suppose we need have no fears, although some penguins might.)
November 28, 2007
2:24 PM
Roni Bell writes:
Because I can't "see" Bill, I picture him in a Tu Tu. Am I right?