“I think Bain Capital has a good and solid record,” Romney said in a CNBC interview. “I was happy to see President Clinton made a similar statement today and called my record superb.” [Romney smiles at Clinton compliment, CNN]
“This is good work.” – Pres. Bill Clinton
PRES. CLINTON’S COMMENTS on Mitt Romney’s Bain tenure last night on CNN would be leading the news across the spectrum, if the jobs report hadn’t sucked so badly. I’ve been waiting for this stiletto to drop.
“The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold.” – Pres. Bill Clinton on CNN
The Clintonites complimentary corporate wing of the Democratic Party melded well with the Obamam’s Goldman Sachs section. But since team Obama started pummeling Mitt Romney on his Bain Capital record, the continued sound bites that started with Obama’s own car czar Steve Rattner, followed by Cory Booker, Harold Ford, then Lanny Davis, have challenged the strategy openly and very directly.
Now the economic gold seal of approval from William Jefferson Clinton has solidified the Wall Street wing against what was always an opportunistic political move by the Obamans to blow away Mitt Romney’s main case for his presidency. It’s not like Democrats don’t have a mirror wing to Romney’s private equity GOP wing. Back in January:
The caterwauling over Mitt Romney tapping the core of American capitalism for his own benefit is rooted in partisanship and doesn’t address the wider reality, which is that there are hundreds of Mitt Romneys in this country, many of whom got the Bush tax cut extensions, which Pres. Obama gladly gave and never really mounted a nationwide fight against. [...] Using Steve Rattner’s defense of Mr. Romney and Bain Capital as an example, what are Democratic venture capitalists and heads of holding companies and investment bankers supposed to do in the shadow of this damning video that reveals the sausage making that is our economic system? As Rattner reveals, Democrats in his class can feel his pain and you can bet they’re just glad it’s Romney and not them. That Obama reelect will trumpet the video and all of its parts in the general election season, freaking out their own Democratic version of the Mitt Romney class, is wrought with irony.
Democratic feelings about private equity are now out in the open, that is if people hadn’t gotten the message from the people inside Obama’s economic team already. Now that the economic grand poobah of Democratic politics has set it in cement, it sinks any prospect of Bain being determinative against Mitt Romney in November.
When you consider what’s unraveling in Syria, as well as the euro, with Greece’s exit possible, outside events are proving volatility may turn prognosticators into dart throwers.
Another problem for Pres. Obama is that up against former Pres. Bill Clinton’s economic chops, which are seen as a gold standard, Obama can compete when looking at saving the U.S. auto industry, but he hasn’t come close to the jobs record, which was driven home today.
I agree with most of what you are saying Taylor and maybe I’m wrong but I think this is a way for Clinton to put the stiletto in Obama’s back for calling him a racist back in 2008. I remember he was quite upset about that and said he wouldn’t talk about it until after the election but I don’t recall that he ever did talk about it publicly.
And like you said, it’s kind of silly for Obama to be doing what he’s doing after his record of saving the “Masters of the Universe”.
There is one thing wrong with you post. Just like Al Gore never said he invented the internet, President Obama never called President Clinton a racist.
You weren’t paying attention then.
Nope! I was paying keen attention in 2008! You are just lying about the man!
What was that Harry S Truman quote? If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog!
LOL, good one. hadn’t heard that one, but, that goes in my Pearl’s of Wisdom journal!
I could see Willy Jeff playing a role in a Romney administration, unofficial capacity, of course, but something of a behind the scenes emissary to the Ds in Congress and in other influential positions.
It could actually be more substantive than what Obama has used him for and would obviously appeal to Clinton’s ego to be the lead D dog again.
Baa waa waa. He’s not going to serve in a Romney administration. The GOP would have a stroke and it’s not like they really like Romney all that much in the first place and something like that would set off an already raging intra-party war into a full fledged house fire.
Bill Clinton being all passive aggressive! I am shocked! I wonder if he realizes that if President Obama loses this November that his wife’s chances in 2016 also goes down. Because instead of running for an open seat she will be going up against an incumbent.
Actually her chances would be greater against Romney than following Obama. She would be put in the position in 2016 of having to defend Obama’s record and voters have been very unlikely to give a party more than 8 years in the White House.
Today was definitely a bad day for the President but the guy shown a knack for overcoming obstacles! Both incidental and deliberate!
Do try to contain your glee. This was a bad day for the President but it is only one day.
He’s going to have a lot of bad days between now and November and probably a lot of good ones too. I could care less about this one particular day or any other day whether Obama has a “good” day or a “bad” one as a matter of fact.
Ga6thDem 01 June 2012 at 5:21 pm
Don’t give anyone an inch on 2016. Amen, baby.
giggles!
Et tu Brute? Bill, Booker, Deval, Harold, Rendell, etc. Damn, the list is growing. Axe may not realize it, but these guys are doing Obama a huge solid. This particular private equity argument is a loser.
It’s real simple for me. Rank-and-file Democrats like Obama but do not hate Romney; rank-and-file Republicans barely tolerate Romney but loathe Obama. That tells me everything I need to know about how Obama should play this: Make Romney curry favor with the base by loudly, and repeatedly, disavowing his technocratic, pragmatic actions and instincts. Wrap Romneycare around his neck. Wrap the birther stuff around his neck. Watch independents defect. Rinse and repeat. And here’s the argument Obama should be making – I’ll concede you your sterling business resume, Mitt. Good for ya. Now, how did all that vaunted experience work for you as Governor? Education outcomes? Growth outcomes? Jobs outcomes? And since those outcomes were either middling or in the bottom quartile of all states, doesn’t that mean your business experience was for naught? Unless of course, that’s what you learned in business – take good companies (or states), and make ‘em worse off. Got it.
THAT’s how you pwn Mitt. Bill, will you please school these muthasuckas?
Shorter: Obama works the base by going after Bain; the Big Dawg works Wall Street. The catch is in the net in between.
Its’ called triangulation, something William Jefferson Clinton’s been doing for 20 years.
Let me add, it’s just this time he did it on one of his own.
Ummm, no. That’s exactly the opposite of what I said. Obama should ditch the private equity argument, stat. It hurts him in the swing states, and doesn’t move the needle elsewhere. The good thing is Obama is starting to focus on Romney’s record as governor, which is exactly what folks like Bill have been asking him to do.
Maybe those two are friends. Really, it would be nice if we could have some bi-partisanship. I am really get sick of all the b.s. I think a lot of people are. Maybe, Clinton is reading the mood of the country and trying to find a way to get past all the b.s. I hope so.
DUDE, you better lay off the drinking or smoking or what ever the hell it is you’re doing.
“Maybe, Clinton is reading the mood of the country and trying to find a way to get past all the b.s.”
The country KNOWS the reason nothing has been done is because the repugnasntklan/teabaggers would rather see America and the American people crash and burn then allow this administration a single thing they want to help make things better for the people. They are nothing less then domestic terrorists waging war on unions, women and they economy.
It is what he is best at doing, coblak. It is a funny thing but when Clinton talks about a partnership between private capital and government it sounds hopeful.
WJC in Wisconsin:
Big dawg at his best.
On this we agree Sec!
giggles again at Solo, as I am sure this annoys him…
…you know WJC riding in to save the day after his Barrie smack-down.
You are obviously the sort who only reads headlines! Did you actually watch the entire Clinton interview? All the Obama haters are spinning this as some Clinton rebuke of Obama, when the reality is both Clinton and Obama have said the same thing. That the private equity business is a legitimate business. President Obama has been taking shots from the radical right and from the loony left for years now and he is still leading in the polls and is still roughly 50/50 in job approval. He is constantly being lied about, insulted, disrespected and he keeps going! No matter what his enemies though at him he just keeps going in all of his quite dignity!
The fact that Clinton’s words are being dissected by the left and the right speaks volumes.
Sorry Solo, your boy is being schooled.
Sasha you are the typical consumer of news in this country. You take in information exactly the way it’s presented to you, without nary a thought! The video tape proves that President Obama and President Clinton said the exactly the same thing about the private equity business the media spins it opposite and you buy it. Hell even Clinton has come out and said his words were twisted! And the hate rolls on!
Big Dawg? We do remember this is the guy who couldn’t manage 50% either time he ran for Prez right? We do remember this is the guy who humiliated his wife by getting his dick sucked in a White House closet while his wife was there. We do remeber this his the guy who signed DOMA, DADT, NAFTA, Welfare Reform and the repeal of Glass–Steagall Act into law right?
Baa waa waa and yet he still got reelected and left office with a high approval rating. The envy of the Obots is hysterical. For some reason the Obots have to make continual excuses for Obama and put down Clinton. Obama has created his own problems that have nothing to do with Clinton.
Regarding his “barrie smack down” Big Dawg has said that just because he basically said mittens QUALIFIES to run for President he would SUCK.
To all you Progressives who think that either Clinton is a Progressive, you are all projecting your hopes on a myth. The Clinton’s are New Democrats who are neither liberal nor Progressive on the all values you cherish. It was Clinton who said ‘The era of big government is over’. It was Clinton working with Republicans in Congress and his Treasury Secretary who was recruited from Goldman Sachs who repealed the Glass-Seagall Act in 1999 and de-regulated Wall Street. It was the Clintons who supported and Bill Clinton who signed the Defense of Marraige Act that the Obama adminstration has now found to be unconstitutional and will no longer defend in court. It was Bill Clinton working with Newt Gingrich who passed the ‘Welfare Reform Act’ that threw many extremely poor people off the welfare rolls and into the street.
It was Bill Clinton who through executive order put ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ for the military in effect. It was the Obama adminstration that repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and led the fight that allows openly gay people to serve in the military.
It was the Obama adminstration that passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act that required equal pay for equal work for women.
It was real Progressives like Kent Conrad in the Senate and Bernie Sanders in the House who opposed the repeal of Glass-Seagall and the Clinton ‘Welfare Reform Act’ and and ‘Defense of Marriage Act’
It was Obama who signed NDAA into law. That’s enough for me.
I just wonder if Obama’s political team is a one trick pony? They have been ” off their game” since he was elected. Midterms in 2010 was a miserable failure with severe consequences for the country. The healthcare plan lack of roll out was political malpractice. I know they are good technocrats but they have a severe vision problem.
They never had a game. Really what professional recommends running on content-less “hope and change? I for one have never thought they were that good. I mean look back at 2008 and how they ran the primaries and how they ran the general election. Neither was done all that well. Obama was lucky that McCain’s campaign wasn’t all that well run either and that he was following a loser like Bush.
I agree he was not a good primary pol, he went to ground when Hillary was barnstorming. All the Obots were bitching about Hillary dragging things out and he whined about being bored and tired of campaigning.Michelle was warning that they would never do this again.
McCain the candidate was so awful it was embarrassing.Where his team really screwed up was in buying into Palin’s potential.
And of course the press adored him and many Dems just lost their minds. I am thinking specifically of my Senator mcCaskill but there were many more who should have known better.
McCain was a HORRIBLE candidate and without the excitement Palin brought to the Republicans, it would have been a blowout.
His team was awful.
I agree with everything else you said LL.
From my perspective, their game has always consisted of two strategies:
- Work behind the scenes with the people who really matter, giving them whatever they want in exchange for power
- Fool enough rubes with pretty speeches to make the campaign credible
Neither ever struck me as technocratic in nature. From what I’ve seen here and elsewhere in comments, they’re still good at fooling the rubes, and it sure looks as though the Obama campaign has enough of the powerful behind him to keep going.
Don’t forget, Hillary Clinton mostly won the real primaries back in 2008. Where Team Obama excelled was in the caucuses and in the back rooms. IM(NS)HO, they were never all that good at rhetoric that could stand up to skeptical analysis.They still aren’t.
Agree, Cujo.
Also I keep noticing pundits saying how Obama will demolish Romney with his supposedly superior debate performance. Two things: One, Romney’s primary debate performances weren’t exactly shabby. Two, Obama’s performances in debates with Hillary were not stellar, as were hers.
Obama is a terrible debater. He’s good a speeches and terrible at town halls. I haven’t heard Romney’s speeches so i’m not sure if he’s any good at that but he’s terrible at town halls too. Romney is actually a decent debater from what I saw during the primaries but the crux of the matter is that debates don’t matter that much because if we did, we would never have had little Bush for president.
Yeah, he’s real good at speeches, so long as he has the trusty teleprompter.
I like how you ignored all the facts in my post and went right to the hyperbole! Try and keep in mind that my “boy” is beating Romney both in the national polls and in where it matters most, the electoral college.
Facts are not opinions Solo.
Of course Barrie beats Mittens in the national polls…, by the way how was Barrie’s turn out in Wisconsin?
oh wait.
Your last post made absolutely no sense but I will try to respond anyway. “Of course Barrie beats Mittens in the national polls” Why of course? Couldn’t Romney be leading? And what the hell does Wisconsin have to do with this conversation?
I am talking about their organizing and use of social media. It just breaks my heart how young people were wound up and then dropped like hot potatoes.I worried about it at the time, how disillusioned they would be when he started governing.
I have to admit, even with my skepticism, I expected much more competence.I thought he would draw a really smart group of the ” best and brightest’ around him to problem solve.
I have come to believe that in spite of the abundance of skills that Obama is blessed with he is missing the one basic skill all pols need, the ability to build relationships.
I never bought into “who he has around him” because it was the same argument Bush Jr. used and he was NOTHING like his father even though he had the same advisers. Neither Obama nor Bush had the background nor the experience to be president IMO. If you have someone who doesn’t have much experience, they don’t know when to listen to their advisers and when not to it seems.
As he is too cool for school, he can’t be bothered building relationships.
Agreed, RAJensen, Bill Clinton is a centrist (I believe the word “Progressive” to be meaningless) but so is Obama. There is not much daylight between them on banking reform and Obama has less of an excuse post-crash than Clinton. As for the indefensible DOMA, Obama has been a Johnny-Come-Lately, taking a stand when it was as risk free as it gets. GaDem, Lake Lady, I agree: the message has been content free. The current message “Forward” is similarly content free. Axelrod really needs to go back to being an ad man. Raising Astroturf does not become him.
Lake Lady, you speak my mind, especially about Sen. McCaskill, what a low point that was.
I know. I was shocked at how silly she acted,like she was 18.
Hmmm, the Stupak amendment, the extension of two wars, the most use ever of drones, expansion of wiretapping without warrants…seems to me BHO has got nothing on WJC. So much for hopey-changey.