The very fact that Obama had to rely on a past president to nominate him, the first time an incumbent ever showed such desperation, signaled to the American people just how weak his record in office has been. Even before President Clinton opened his mouth at the Democratic convention, his very presence in this position as nominator reminded every American how much better Clinton’s record is than Obama’s. In fact, much of what Clinton said directly highlighted this comparison.
One of Clinton’s most widely quoted lines was that no president could have repaired “all the damage” in just four years. But nobody on the Republican side even implied they expected Obama to repair “ALL” the damage. But they at least expected Obama to repair SOME of the damage. Instead, Obama just made things worse. He inherited an unemployment rate of 7.8% and raised it to 8.3%. He raised the national debt from 10 trillion to 16 trillion. And the list goes on.
Another of Clinton’s most famous lines was that the Republicans “left [Obama] a total mess; [Obama] hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough; so fire him and put us back in.” This highlights the fact that the main weakness of Obama is not that he hasn’t cleaned up the mess fast enough, but he hasn’t cleaned it up at all, in many respects. He has only made it worse, in many respects. It also highlights, perhaps inadvertently, that much of the mess began in the administration of President Clinton himself, when the banks were first forced to grant mortgages to people who could not afford them.
Clinton began by pointing out that the economic collapse took place six weeks before the election. All that this highlights is that the Republicans would have been saddled with the blame no matter who ran against them since they were the incumbents in the White House even though the economic indicators had been favorable for the first six years of George W. Bush’s presidency and everything only fell apart in the last two years, once the Democrats took control of Congress. Until the economic collapse, the Republicans were leading in the polls. Anyone running against them would have won, after the economic collapse for which they were wrongly blamed. (Even the liberal Time Magazine listed the people most responsible for the economic collapse, and listed Clinton ahead of Bush.)
Clinton stated that the Republicans from the far right think the government is the enemy. By doing so, he highlighted once again Obama’s opposite position that the government is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. He also highlighted that Governor Romney himself is a relative moderate in between the two extremes. Had Romney felt that the government is the enemy, he would have stayed in the private sector, and never would have become a governor of a government, or sought the presidency of the United States not once but twice.
Obama’s stated goal is to make the United States incapable of fighting more than one war at a time
Clinton highlighted that the Republicans want to raise defense spending. This in turn reminds people that the reason for the need to raise the defense spending is that Obama has made such drastic cuts, both in terms of conventional arms as well as nuclear weapons. Obama’s stated goal is to make the United States incapable of fighting more than one war at a time. Some goal! Some commander in chief!
When Clinton spoke of the need for bipartisanship, he was reminding people of the spirit of cooperation that existed between him and Gingrich of the Republicans, and between President Reagan and Tip O’Neill of the Democrats. Whether consciously or not, Clinton was also reminding all Americans how Obama rammed his stimulus and health care measures down the throats of Congress without even allowing Republican members of Congress – or even his own Democrat members, for that matter – to read his bills thoroughly and to digest them. Nancy Pelosi’s famous line on behalf of Obama was to “vote for the bill” FIRST in order to “find out what is inside of it” – loads of taxes, as pointed out by the Supreme Court, in upholding it.
Clinton claims that proof of Obama’s cooperation with Republicans was his retention of some military leaders, conveniently neglecting to point out how Obama retained some of the leading economic leaders largely responsible for the economic collapse. But Obama’s efforts at bipartisanship were so limited that Clinton was reduced to giving examples of his appointing his former opponent, Biden, to be his vice-president, a fellow Democrat, and his appointing Hillary to be his Secretary of State, also a fellow Democrat, both appointments made for clear expediency. Biden’s chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs committee gave the clueless Obama (at least as to foreign affairs) credibility-by-association in foreign affairs, highlighting Obama’s lack of credentials in this area. Hillary’s appointment as Secretary of State kept her out of the country much of the time, and prevented her from speaking out against him as she plans her next campaign for the presidency.
Clinton claimed that health care spending has gone down in Obama’s administration, but that is not the reality that most Americans are experiencing. Clinton claimed that Americans do not “feel” that their lot is improving. Most Americans are smart enough to know that if they don’t feel that their lot is improving, this is probably because it is not.
How ill equipped Obama is to serve as the leader of our great country and the entire free world
Clinton spoke of hate from the far right, reminding everyone of Reverend Wrights’s hate from the far left, and followed immediately by a reference to the Republican President Eisenhower’s sending troops to integrate the Little Rock Central High School, race-baiting in the extreme, and reminding people how Obama had mean-spiritedly and falsely accused President Clinton himself of being a racist.
The whole speech by President Clinton emphasized the fact that his administration had been highlighted by successful actions, while all that came about in Obama’s administration is continued hope, and faith by a person whose long-time pastor and father figure, Reverend Wright, had famously declared “G-d DAMN America.” With friends like Clinton, Obama doesn’t need enemies. The only problem is that many Americans are too naive to realize just how much the Clinton speech served to remind all thinking Americans how ill equipped Obama actually is to serve as the leader of our great country and the entire free world.
