I admit it. I was in denial. When I heard that Bill Clinton was making the rounds on the talk-show circuit, I was POSITIVE his motivation was to pull out the guns and fight for Barack Obama. I know, his schtick was reportedly his global initiative, but come on!
After the fold:
Surely, this political afficionado would whip the table cloth off of the table while leaving the dishes meticulously intact. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.
With that, I watched my recording of the View. I admit it wasn't exactly fabulous, but I thought he did okay. In fact, after watching that recording, I read this diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I can't say I agreed with it at the time I read it. For example, the conclusion:
We are in a life and death struggle to win this election and we need unconditional support for Obama and Bill Clinton just gave teh most LUKE WARM support for Obama that I have ever seen in my life and fuck it I am going to say it he gave people and excuse to vote for Mccain and not feel bad about it.
I felt Bubba was being somewhat supportive of Obama (I wish I saved that recording before reading that diary!). I really felt the diarist was over-reacting. Not that I thought Bubba was killing himself with praise for Barack Obama, but he didn't seem to put him down.
Now, I'm watching him on Letterman. I would like to retract my disagreements with aforementioned diarist. It's fine that Letterman entertained Clinton by allowing him to pimp his "global initiative" cause in the first segment. I think it was appropriate. In fact, it might look kind of bad if Letterman delved right into the present campaign issues -- making Clinton look sort of whorish. So, that was fine with me.
The second segment comes along, and Dave asks for lessons on this whole economic mess (admittedly, I STILL don't completely understand). I think Bill did a decent job of explaining it. Although, he stated he didn't fault Paulson or Bernanke on their approach -- I thought that was kind of weird.
Then, Clinton went on to state that it would be interesting to be the next POTUS. He said, rather to the audience, that voting for either (party) would be good b/c it can't really get any worse.
I was mad. I admit it. But then I figured the guy is trying to be bipartisan. I shrugged it off -- SLIGHTLY.
Third segment comes. Letterman brings up Biden. He asks Bill why Biden said Hillary, "may be a potentially better choice for Vice President than he was." Here's what Bubba said:
Hillary, Joe Biden and I are friends. Joe Biden was a great supporter of mine when I was President. In stopping the genocide in Bosnia. In Kosovo. Restoring democracy in Haiti, and a whole lot of other things that we did together. He is a very fine man and a great public servant. They [Hillary and Biden] just like each other. He knows that Hillary ran. Got 18 million votes. I think he was telling what he honestly believed. That, basically, he thought she'd be great. He was selected. Let's make the best of this, and win this election. That's what I think he was saying. I don't think he should -- he's a brutally frank guy. But I don't think he meant it in any kind of a cute way.
Well, okay then. I guess it's good for kudos to Biden. But it seems to me Bubba was suggesting Biden felt guilty (or regrets) Hillary didn't get the veep pick. I didn't take Biden's words that way at all when he said them. I think he was being respectful and giving Hillary proper acknowledgement. What do I know?
Letterman went on to talk about Biden's story (told many times on the stump) about how Biden was down and how his father told him to get back up. Clinton talked about Biden's hardships and how he kept serving and serving against all odds. Couldn't say enough about the guy. Clinton throws in Biden's talking point (that kind of tires me):
He gets on a train and goes home every night.
Then it was on to celebrate how Biden and Hillary share a home origin of Scranton, PA. Okay.
And finally, that Joe is going to meet the Clintons in NE PA to do a fundraiser for Obama (who?), and it's going to be fun. "We'll have a good time."
Bubba goes on to talk about how much he likes McCain. He said,
What I like about [McCain] is he is an intuitive politician. I think he instinctively thought that [Palin] would help him . . . excite the people who were potentially his voters; and . . . demonstrate that he can be a change candidiate. See his big cross to bear in this election is that this is not a good year to be a Republican.
What stuck in my craw was Clinton's closing rhetorical:
We need to be thinking about this election. Who is best for our future? Who is best for our children's future? Who can turn the economy around? Who can do the right thing on the energy thing? Who can do the right thing on these complex national security issues?
Let me emphasize the rhetorical description of this posit. Because Clinton did NOT jump in and support Barack Obama as THE person to do the job. Instead, he said, "I think it's a fascinating election."
To be fair (?), Clinton said in the end he thinks Obama will win. I was so excited I almost broke into a yawn.
With surrogates like Clinton, who needs enemies? I tried to give him a second chance. I get hurt feelings. But there comes a time when you have to get behind YOUR PARTY FOR THE GOOD OF THIS NATION. I know it's hard. Hell, I hated Kerry being our guy; but I bucked up.
I no longer think Bill Clinton is being bipartisan. I don't BELIEVE he cares about this country's future. I think he is a really bitter guy. I mean, I really detested that Hillary person and Kiki person who worked for Sr. Clinton during the Obama/Clinton battles. I thought they were viscious. Even Begala bugged me during his support for Hill. But they all came around and rallied for Obama -- as it should be.