E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSPreviewing his primetime speech tonight at the Democratic convention, former President Bill Clinton tells NBC's Brian Williams that he will explain why President Obama's economic approach "is right" and will "pay off" if he's re-elected.
Clinton also says in the interview that no president, in four years, could have restored the current economy "to full health" after the financial collapse of 2008.
Former President Bill Clinton, who will address the Democratic National Convention tonight, told NBC's Brian Williams why he feels President Obama needs to be reelected.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Cover of Newsweek, "Why Barack needs Bill." Why do you think Barack needs Bill? What do you have to offer?
BILL CLINTON: I really don't know. I've always been mystified by that. I was honored when he asked me to nominate him. I hope what I can do, because we did have a good economy, because we did have the longest expansion in history, is explain why I think his approach is right and it'll pay off if we renew his contract. Explain why the economy he faced was much weaker and different than the one I faced, so that there's no way any president, no president could have restored it to full health in just four years.
The rest of Brian Williams' interview with Clinton will appear on NBC "Nightly News" beginning at 6:30 pm ET.
Leave a Comment:
Sounds like everyone here is a politician.
I guess I go by what my heart tells me.
- Clinton was and is morally reprehensible - and very public about it. Just can't get his head out of the bedroon.
- Obama tells half of the truth 100% of the time. The other half is a casualty of our times, but that doesn't make it right. I don't want to be blindsided by "halftruths". Who knows, I might agree with him if he told the whole truth - but he never trusts me - or any other American - enought to do that.
- So why did the Dems put God and Jerusalem back in? It was very obvious that it had nothing to do with what the delegates wanted to do. Just makes them look like liars.
- I want Romney to grow a moustache and beard so he doesn't look so squeeky clean - thats part of the problem
- I'd like for the people claiming to have stole Romneys tax records to be prosecuted and jailed. No one in this country would appreciate being violated that way - Thieves should be punished.
- I'd like the teleprompters removed for all debates and the questions to come from a compiled list of 500 questions that are held in secret until the night of the debate - no prep - no canned answers - and no help from anyone - let the best debater win with the understanding that that would not necessarily make them a good President.
What GOP/baggers don't like is that the whole vibe of the DNC is uplifting, let's work together we can do it.
What was the vibe of RNC "We built it" and a debt clock going, well they got one thing right, they did build that debt.
All the speakers have been great, Lilly Ledbetter, why don't republicans believe in fair pay?
Sandra Fluke why don't Republicans defend a Women when she get's attacked, is it because they are all scared of Rush Limbaugh? Heck you can't even call out your birther squirrel head Trump!
Clinton was the icing on the cake, he schooled everyone, he explained Obamacare better than the Obama Adm had. He also called out all the Republicans, with there wanting the President to fail, country be damned!
Elizabeth Warren gave a very uplifting speech, saying people just want a fair shot, the system is rigged but with hard work, helping one another out, we all can make it.
Everyone of the speakers had something to add, something positive, forward not back!
Obama/Biden 2012 forward not back!
Sounded like the Democrats want to go back to the 1990's and re-enact President Clinton's presidency... Not very forward looking to me.
Hey, if you think Government is going to help... good on you and good luck with that.
There are lions and there are zebras - you enjoy your stripes and hope the lions play nice with you.
Great analogy. Do you know what lions and zebras have in common? They both understand that they survival depends on them working as a society. Lions and zebras no that they can't do it alone.
Makes those mammals smarter than Republicans.
The big animals eat the little animals. It's never the other way around. Yes occasionally the Zebra gets a good kick in there but they are always on the lookout. They all have there own survival mechanisms.
Bear: What exactly are they doing together? You think lions are planning to help the zebras be more prosperous?
Really??? And you're claiming mammals are smarter than Republicans?
The Zebras are claiming the Lions are racist. Lion guilt. They had it there way for too long. It system is in favor of the Lions. The Baboons and Monkeys are sayin "YEAH THATS RIGHT"
Maybe no one could have fixed the economy in four years, but Obama was elected on the promise that he COULD fix it. He said if he could not, then he didn't deserve a second term. He touted Hope and Change and had answers for every problem. Then, when the going got tougher then he thought it was, he blamed it on the economy being worse then he knew. We have heard for four years about how he inherited this mess, now he wants to convince us that he wants to inherit it again now when it is even worse? Sorry, his idea of throwing more and more money at the problem didn't work before, and it won't work now. Time for a change.
It's not that i expected him to get this done in four years. I expected it to be trending that way. I don't have confidence in him. There is nothing in his resume that tells me that he has any experience in business, budgets and money. Romney does. He has a governing experience and he has been in business. I have more confidence in his resume.
How about 4.5 MILLION JOBS !
Reagan did it Bubba.
The best person the DNC could bring to the table to convince me about Mr. Obomba was Bill Clinton. You know, the guy that lied so much he almost got impeached. I believe him........RIGHT. Then the DNC ask me what I remember the most about Ted Kennedy. Anyone who drowns their girlfriend drunk and never spends a day in jail is one heck of a guy. Oh yea, I remember that too.... You just can't make this stuff up LOL LOL Their ALL crooks, both sides of the pond..............
Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998
Ted Kennedy drove off the bridge, saved himself and walked back to his home and left his girlfriend to drown in the car with not one bit of concern for her and her life. At the very least he deserved to charged with man slaughter. That was indeed shameful!
I was born in 1957. I started caring about the performance of presidents around 1976. I remember Kennedy but from what I have read in the history books he was effective and would have probably become a very good leader by is second term. Kennedy had charisma. Johnson came along and was full of human rights bravado. Not to mention the Vietnam War of which he tried to manage with very little success. Nixon was next and pretty damn smart but very self centered. He failed after getting caught. Ford...Ford who? Next came the peanut farmer from Plains. This is about the time I was 18. Let's put on the sweaters, turn down the heat, and hope the fuel doesn't run out. Not very effective at anything was Carter. He tried to rescue the hostages after Ross Perot did something similar. Ross Perot hired a group of privately trained commandos to get his people out of Iran. It worked. Carter failed and people died. My favorite president took over on January 20th, 1981. His name was Ronald Reagan. He was the dude. The first item of business was to personally backed down 2000 air traffic controllers that didn't report to work and fired 11, 345 of the PATCO workers. He had balls. Big balls and didn't take no BS. I cried in 2004 when he was laid to rest. Reagan was American through and through. The first George Bush took over after that (the smart one). I actually liked Mr. Bush and respected his business savvy. But he feel short in the opinion polls and was a one termer.Next came BJ Willie. Teflon Bill was smart. Damn smart. But very stupid with his tallywacker (I always thought the movie Porky's should have been nominated for something). Clinton did however, turn the economy around but things were in getting in better shape because of Reagan before. Next president to come along was undoubtedly the worst president since Andrew Jackson and Herbert Hoover. George Walker Bush. This guy should have not been allowed to run anything. He failed at most business ventures and without the help of his dad he would still be hanging around Midland Texas (or Dallas). I truly fell that our way American way of life was threatened by this guy (and Cheney). I can't say much for Obama but I hope and pray that something good happens to our country before I die. It is such a mess right now.
The think with Kennedy, we'lln ever know if he would have been a good leader. See, all sides assume he would have done what "they" would have wanted... making him the best leader we'll ever have.
He actually was very inexperienced. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy ordered what became known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion": 1,500 U.S.-trained Cubans, called "Brigade 2506", landed on the island. No U.S. air support was provided. Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, later stated that they thought the president would authorize any action required for success once the troops were on the ground.[67] By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had captured or killed the invading exiles, and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors. Not a good start to his presidency.
To his credit he did invest in the space program and asked congress to create the peace corp.
Stop drinking that kool aid you are gonna over dose !
Get a life, Regan Rased Taxes Too
OBAMA 2012
...if Dumbocrats know "arithmetic", Billy, then why can't they muster up a budget in three and a half years.....is it because they are full of shyt?.....
nycguy, probabaly because CONGRESS (which is made up of both righties and lefties and indies) is responsible for the budget,
But I'll bet you knew that (fat chance)
Perhaps no POTUS could - but Obama said he could in 3 years and added he should be a one termer if he couldn't. That is one campaign promise he could keep with the help of the voters. Plus the fact he made it worse than all those before him going against his own words as a senator.
Com N. Sense, my guess whould be that he didn't get to see the real problems and many of them hadn't fully blossomed yet.
That, and the nasty Republicans who forgot they were suppose to work forthe country and not for their party and big business. The idiots drove the country to the economic brink more than once over the last 3+ years. But you guys would never admit to the truth...
Well if Obama had had some co-operation MAYBE we could have, but that wasn't in the cards and the Republicans have been trying to SPIKE the economy down since he was sworn in so don't tell me that CRAP!
"my guess whould be that he didn't get to see the real problems and many of them hadn't fully blossomed yet."
I think you are right, Chip. The collapse of the financial sector just occurred in Sep-Oct 2008, just less than two months before Obama was elected in November of that year. I remember that because I was rooting for Obama, and as the financial sector began collapsing, I remember thinking, "Oh, man! Obama is going to have a real mess to clean up now if he is elected." As I recall Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns declared bankruptcy in Sep 2008. The whole economy was just beginning really to bottom out at the time Obama was elected, and, of course, no one knew at that time what the full consequences of the collapse of the financial sector would be.
I don't get why anyone would vote for Obama for a second term. He said he would cut the deficit in half, Clinton now says no one could have, which makes Obama even more of a liar, and his record in that regard speaks for itself. He couldn't do it and apparently according to Clinton, he KNEW he couldn't do it. If no president could have done it, I'm sure Clinton will understand if we give someone else a stab at it.
If I hire him to do a job and he can't do it, he gets fired just like any employee. I'm not paying to hear excuses and there's no reason good enough for a second chance. You say what you will do and then do what you say. And in the position of POTUS, the stakes are higher for us all so the President of all people should be an example of living by your word. And if your word isn't worth a crap, you're either a liar or you're incompetent and blew a bunch of smoke to get the job. Either way, I hope every door of the White House hits him on his way out.
so much for Romney's big idea for removing Obama from office "NO ONE COULD FIX THE ECONOMY IN FOUR YEARS"
Go OBAMA 2012
But Obama was sure able to make it worse in three and a half years!
I have to hand it to the republicans, they said that their primary goal was to make Obama look bad (instead of working all together, for the good of the U.S.) & they have done a good job of that. The U.S. economy would have been at lot better but their party comes first. At least Obama tried working with the republicans, for the sake of our country!
For America, the two party system is clearly a failure. Picking the lesser of two evils is not really a choice of freedom is it? Until America fixes the political system, nothing will be solved. Stop blaming republicans or democrats, because they are both bad when they are the only choice.
Stop blaming the people and start blaming the system. They're just playing the rules of the game.