I was really steamed when I got on the New York Times website yesterday morning and saw a link for an article entitled "Clinton Praises McCain." The article on the Caucus blog talked about all of the effusive praise that Clinton had for John McCain, and the lukewarm words he had for Barack Obama. Today's New York Times has more details about Clinton's clear unwillingness to get 100 percent behind his party's presidential candidate. It's a disturbing read.
The Times notes that Clinton was all over the airwaves yesterday to talk about the three-day annual meeting in New York of the Clinton Global Initiative, making appearances on morning news shows and late-night talk shows. Although he was in front of the cameras primarily to talk about the initiative, he naturally was asked about the current presidential campaign. Since the race is so tight and the results so important for the future of our country, one would have expected Clinton to use the opportunity to forcefully support Barack Obama. One would have been disappointed.
His passion about the philanthropic conference was clear.
But perhaps because of the contrast with that passion, Mr. Clinton’s answers to questions about the presidential race between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain seemed to some Obama supporters like the damning faint praise of a Democratic holdout.
The Times notes that Clinton took every opportunity he could get to say positive things not just about John McCain but even about Sarah Palin.
Mr. Clinton has missed few opportunities, while allowing that he disagrees politically with Mr. McCain, of Arizona, to say how much he likes the senator and to praise him for his support of Mr. Clinton’s efforts as president to normalize relations with Vietnam and intervene in Bosnia.
Mr. Clinton also went out of his way to praise Mr. McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. "I come from Arkansas," he told reporters, "I get why she’s hot out there."
By contrast, Clinton lacked all passion when talking about Obama, and spoke of him in a very cold, measured way.
As comfortable as Mr. Clinton is in saying, "I like John McCain," and "I like Sarah Palin," no one seems to have heard him say the same for Mr. Obama. Instead, when speaking of Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, Mr. Clinton has assumed a professorial stance that sometimes drifts toward emotional aloofness and disregard....
Answering Mr. Letterman’s questions, Mr. Clinton gave a dispassionate discourse on the cultural and political dynamics of the race, which, he said, would ultimately play in Mr. Obama’s favor. Mr. Clinton mentioned his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had lost the Democratic primary to Mr. Obama, far more often than he mentioned the party’s standard-bearer. And in predicting victory for Mr. Obama, Mr. Clinton suggested that it would happen because people were hurting economically. He did not say that Mr. Obama’s victory would be because voters especially wanted Mr. Obama to be president.
In fact, the Times notes that Clinton appeared to have a problem even uttering Barack Obama's name, as exemplified by this comment he made on the David Letterman show:
"People will wind up liking both of them," Mr. Clinton said. "People will go in that polling booth and say: ‘You know, I really admire Senator McCain. He gave about all you could give to this country without getting killed for it. But I’ve got to have a change, and I’m going the other way.’ "
By "the other way," he apparently meant Mr. Obama.
Clinton's lack of support for Obama was so apparent that Letterman's next guest was forced to comment about it:
"Is it me, or he didn’t want to say the name ‘Barack Obama’?" the comedian Chris Rock asked with barely contained anger when he appeared Monday night on "Late Show With David Letterman" immediately after Mr. Letterman’s 15-minute interview with Mr. Clinton.
I'm sure I'm going to get some flames for this. People will tell me that Bill Clinton is a former President, so I can't criticize him and need to treat him with more respect or some other nonsense. But it's exactly the fact that Bill Clinton is the former President that places on him an added responsibility to help his political party win back the White House. Instead, he seems to be proving correct all those conspiracy theorists who have said the Clintons really want Obama to lose the election so that Hillary can run in 2012. I never bought into the conspiracy, but I'm still pissed off as hell. If Bill Clinton can't get 100 percent behind Barack Obama, he needs to just stay away from the cameras and let the rest of us work to get this country back on the right course.
UPDATE:
Here's a video of Chris Rock on the David Letterman Show last night. He really rips into Bill Clinton much more than the Times described. He mocks Clinton for mentioning Hillary's name so much, and he also makes fun of Sarah Palin. It's worth a watch (H/T FrostyKotex):