This morning President Clinton was on Face the Nation to talk up his Clinton Global Initiative meetings this week. That discussion was good, but the really good part came at the end.
Bob Schieffer asked him a question about "How can Obama get his groove back? Would a Republican house be to his benefit, like it was for you?" (paraphrased)
Pres. Clinton had a great answer, first pointing out that the Republicans are the ones most at fault for the partisanship, noting that while in congress Obama had Rep friends, but after inauguration politics trumped the friendship. He ten said that "Obama seems to have his groove back." Citing his recent speeches and the achievements of the last Congress.
(Update) President Clinton, CBS Face the Nation, 9/19/2010 Leave it to CBS headline writers to miss the point. They took his statement that a Republican Win in 2010 "may" help him get reelected to a definitive statement. Sheesh
Follow below the fold for the best part...
On the topic of "how Republicans made his presidency successful" particularly with regards to balancing the budget, th president simply said: "That's the narrative, but it's not correct. The budget was balanced based on the 1993 budget passed by Democrats, not Republicans, many of which were thrown out in 1994. If it wasn't for them the budget would have never been balanced." He went on to talk about how Democrats are hired when things are bad, and when they do the hard work the Republicans rail against the advances and get elected.
His read on this fall's election was a fear that we'll have a similar result, with Democratic initiative that benefit the people and the economy, like healthcare, languishing under Rep control.
All in all, he seems to be a true "elder statesman" and one that the Dems need to roll out more often. He makes clear the potential impacts of a Republican win, based on real life.
I'll look for the CBS link and post it when it comes available.