Is Bill Clinton Sabotaging Obama’s Re-Election?
June 15, 2012 by Chip Wood
My, my, my. Is it my imagination, or are things starting to get a bit testy between the most popular former Democratic President in America, Bill Clinton, and the current occupant of the White House?
There’s been a rumor floating around Washington for weeks that the Clintons and President Barack Obama are going to cut a deal to make Hillary Clinton the Vice Presidential candidate. Joe Biden would plead health reasons for stepping down, and Hillary Clinton would resign as Secretary of State to run in the No. 2 slot. This would give the Democrats a much stronger ticket for 2012 — and Hillary Clinton a virtual lock to be the Democratic nominee four years from now.
It’s a juicy tidbit, but I don’t believe it for a moment. I suspect Dick Morris was much closer to the truth when he appeared on Sean Hannity’s TV program last week. The glee was obvious in his voice when the Republican pundit declared, “Bill Clinton does not want Barack Obama to win.”
Then he dropped the following bombshell: “I’ve spoken to several good friends who are staunch conservatives who have had a lot of exchanges with Bill Clinton in private. At one point, one of them quotes him as saying, ‘You have six months to save the country.’”
Now, I can believe that the Clintons are still upset over the way Obama snatched the Democrat nomination from Hillary Clinton four years ago. And I have absolutely no doubt that a lot of conservatives are convinced that we have six months left to save the country.
But I don’t believe for a second that Bill Clinton said that — especially not to anyone he knows is a staunch conservative. I wish it were true, but I don’t buy it.
What I can believe is that Bill Clinton is sick and tired of being told by the Obama team that he has to “clarify” yet another remark he made. The gaffes (and his corrections) are becoming downright embarrassing.
First the former President praised Mitt Romney’s “sterling record” at Bain Capital. Please note: That wasn’t said at some private fundraiser or some off-the-record meeting. No, Clinton made the remark during a highly publicized television interview. This was no slip of the tongue; it was thought out and calculated.
Clinton went on to rub some salt in the wound, saying that Democrats shouldn’t cast private equity as “bad work.” Talk about giving the Republicans fodder for a Romney TV commercial! That sentiment is the polar opposite of the Obama campaign’s strategy to demonize Romney’s career at Bain, where they’d have you believe he earned his hundreds of millions of dollars by destroying companies and costing thousands of workers their jobs.
So Obama’s people got on the phone to Clinton’s people. Within a matter of hours, the ex-President “clarified” his remarks. Romney’s policies would be “calamitous” for the Nation, smilin’ Bill proclaimed.
The accord didn’t survive the week. Two days later, Clinton said that Congress should extend all of the Bush-era tax cuts that are scheduled to expire at the end of year. I could almost hear the screams of “w-h-a-a-t-?” that erupted from the Obama campaign headquarters when they heard about this one. Obama had repeatedly made it clear that he would veto a continuation of tax cuts for “the rich.”
Nor is Clinton winning any friends in the White House by his continued insistence that the candidates should focus on the issues, not merely run a ton of attack ads against the other. The coming election should be about “competing visions for the future,” he’s said over and over.
But Obama wasn’t honest about his vision for America when he campaigned for the Presidency four years ago. Why would anyone expect him to be any more forthright today? The last thing Obama wants to run on is his record.
Charles Krauthammer, who has to be one of the slyest commentators on National television, said that Clinton is acting more like a double agent for Romney than a fan of Obama.
I won’t go quite that far. But of one thing I’m certain: The guy is too darned clever to be making so many “mistakes.” If I were Obama, I wouldn’t want him driving the campaign bus for me — or packing my parachute, for that matter.
By the way, the Clintons are not the only royal family of Democratic politicos who have had it up to here with Obama. In his bestselling book Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, Ed Klein says that John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, privately refers to the President as “a liar and worse.” This is quite a change from 2008, when she became the first prominent Kennedy to endorse Obama. Prior to that time, Kennedy support for Bill and Hillary Clinton was pretty much unanimous.
During the 2008 primary campaign, Caroline wrote that, “I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.”
The man, of course, was Obama.
Once they were in the White House, however, Michelle and Barack Obama became “too busy” to return the favor. Klein says that early in his Presidency, Kennedy sent Obama a lengthy memorandum about education reform and asked to meet with the President to discuss it. The White House never bothered to reply.
Then, in 2011, Kennedy once again tried to meet with the President when her family and the Obamas were vacationing close to each other on Martha’s Vineyard. Once again, the President declined to meet with her. “A presidential snub had turned into an insult,” Klein says.
Oh, speaking of insults, Klein also reports that the President and first lady have made catty remarks about the Kennedys to White House guests, including how badly they dress and how shabby their homes are. Caroline Kennedy, on her part, is quoted as saying that shaking hands with the first lady was “like shaking hands with a cold fish.” Klein concludes this section by quoting Caroline as saying, “I can’t stand to hear [Barack Obama’s] voice anymore.”
By the way, Klein will be one the keynote speakers at this year’s FreedomFest in Las Vegas, where I’ll once again serve as master of ceremonies. I’ll try to get some more juicy tidbits for you when I meet him.
Personal Liberty Digest™ contributor Wayne Allyn Root is the opening speaker for the event.
Other powerhouse speakers at this year’s conference, which bills itself as “the world’s largest gathering of free minds,” include Judge Andrew Napolitano, Senator Rand Paul, Whole Foods founder John Mackey, Forbes publisher Steve Forbes and a host of other luminaries.
For all the exciting details, go to www.freedomfest.com. And note that if you register in June, you’ll receive a free silver American Eagle when you arrive. If you do come, be sure to say hello. I always enjoy meeting with Personal Liberty Digest™ readers.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
–Chip Wood
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