This, of course, was the response from Big Dawg headquarters to murmurings that he's miffed about the Obama candidacy. The always insightful Marc Ambinder takes up the topic, as well:
A Democrat who has spoken directly to Clinton about his feelings said that the former president remains “miffed” for two reasons. One is that he feels that Obama’s candidacy was essentially an anti-Clinton candidacy; that Obama ran against Clinton’s presidential record at times, implying that it was timeworn, divisive, and damaging to the party while adopting policy positions that seemed to flow directly from the Clinton oeuvre. Why should Clinton embrace a guy who spent the past twelve months bashing him and his accomplishments?Two: Clinton is convinced that the Obama campaign went out of its way to portray the former president as a racist. Clinton wants a private meeting with Obama to sort these things out; he has reconciled himself to the reality of Obama’s nomination and does not want to sit on the sidelines.
The first reason seems like a bit of sour grapes to me. Were it true, it smacks of BillyClint being unable to realize he was totally outmaneuvered. Again, we've been over how the Obama camp pulled some amazing Rovian jiu jitsu on the Clintons, turning their perceived biggest asset--the Clinton years and Clinton, himself--into a liability. We saw the Big Dawg calm and confident, then red-faced and finger-wagging, then muzzled and muted on the campaign trail. I think Bill's still trying to get his head around it.
The second reason? I don't recall anyone calling Bill Clinton a racist. That was the reaction from the Clinton camp and supporters: Don't call me a racist! I marched! But nobody was calling them racists. People were saying that they were saying some pretty racially insensitive things. Were they? Well...
But this is really all beside the point. What's important is that Bill will come out on the campaign trail eventually. It will be a surprise and the media will fall all over themselves covering it. "Passing the torch," they'll call it.
Were I in the Obama team, I'd get Bill to deliver a high profile speech at the Convention. Something about the completion of the Bridge to the 21st Century, maybe? A bit of flourish about crumbling infrastructure, blah blah blah. Then shots of Bill and Hill and Barry all arms raised and smiling.
Then Obama upholds his end of the bargain and makes Bill American Ambassador to the Playboy Mansion.
