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“Yes, he can...”
“But, first, we have to elect him”
© Bryan Zepp Jamieson
8/27/08
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/Election2008/billclinton.htm
After Hillary’s speech last night, no reasonable person would
conclude that the Clintons weren’t on board for the 2008 presidential campaign.
That didn’t stop the far right, and the corporate media lickspittles who give
them artificial life in a country that hates them. So for the past 22 hours, we
had been hearing about how Hillary wasn’t SPECIFIC enough in her praise of Obama.
Of course, if she had gotten into specifics, the right would have put thousands
of manhours into combing through every public utterance she ever made in hopes
of finding something she said about Obama that might even be construed as
slightly different from what she said in the speech.
But, they whined, she could have said that about anyone who was the party
nominee. And of course, that’s exactly true. She said the things that she said
to show that she fully supported her party’s nominee.
Then Bill Clinton spoke tonight. The right was so busy watching for any signs of
a lack of party unity with Hillary they totally forgot that in many ways, Bill’s
voice in the party is even stronger than Hillary’s.
One reason for that is that they have spent years assuming that because they
hate Bill Clinton, everyone else must, as well. I just love mentioning to them
that on the day after the House impeached Bill Clinton, his popularity was above
70%, and it stayed will above 55% until he left office.
Bill Clinton was a strong president who brought America eight years of relative
peace, and an unparalleled economic boom, and people remembered that.
So when Bill Clinton stood to address the convention, the applause dwarfed the
applause any other speaker, including Hillary, had gotten. Obama will get a
bigger round of applause when he steps to the mike tomorrow, but he’ll also be
in front of a crowd some twenty times larger, too.
Bill Clinton doesn’t give speeches without specifics. The man has an
extraordinary genius, and he’s capable of rattling off long strings of
statistics and specifics, and give a detailed and comprehensive analysis of just
about anything relating to economics, politics, or strategy.
Even with only 18 minutes to speak, (six of which were eaten up by raucous
applause), he produced a long laundry list of things that Barack Obama would
have to address, to undo the immense damage George Putsch and the neo-cons have
done to America, and expressed the unwavering conviction that Obama, with the
help of Joe Biden, the Clintons, the Democrats and most of America, was exactly
the man to do it.
Clinton began his endorsement of Obama by saying, “Everything I learned in my
eight years as president, and in the work I have done since in America and
across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.
[...] He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and
rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful
president needs. His policies on the economy, on taxes, on health care, on
energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives.”
...“he has shown a clear grasp of foreign policy and national security
challenges and a firm commitment to rebuild our badly strained military.” It’s
worth noting that Clinton not only nullified Saddam Hussein, making him
irrelevant save only for neo-cons who wanted control of Iraqi oil, but the only
war he fought was waged with no American casualties, and rid the world of the
vile reign of Slobodan Milosevic. And he did far more in two years to try and
capture bin Laden than Putsch has managed in the seven years since bin Laden
murdered 4,000 Americans.
“Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the
world.
Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the
United States.”
Bill, I think you’re holding back. Tell us how you REALLY feel.
“Yes, he can, but, first, we have to elect him”
OK. I think we can count Bill as being on board the Obama bandwagon.
Joe Biden spoke next, and, mindful of the nature of the creature he hopes to
replace, remarked, “no longer will the most dreaded words in the English
language be: 'The vice-president's office is on the phone.’” Joe might have a
penchent for shooting from the lip, but I doubt he’ll actually shoot any six
foot tall lawyers in orange hunting vests, mistaking them for brown six ounce
birds.
Beyond that, it was the sort of speech you would expect from the vice
presidential candidate. He doesn’t have to make nice like Obama, and so spent a
quarter hour or so cheefully dropping failure bombs on the heads of Republicans
in general and McCain in particular. Then Obama popped his nose in and allowed
as how he was generally happy with Biden, the Clintons, the Democrats and the
whole wide world, and the delegates left, filled with cheerful resolve to get
roaring drunk and boff their brains out, that being what conventions are really
for.
Tomorrow, of course, is the Obama speech. The Republicans have been trying to
ridicule the backdrop to his podium, which is supposed the reproduce the
Greco-Roman heroic architecture facing so popular in the federal district. They
are tying to pretend it’s meant to be Olympus, and that Obama is trying to be
Apollo.
They’re lucky I didn’t plan that backdrop. I know exactly what I would have used
as a model, knowing they would ridicule the pretentious grandeur of it.
In fact, if any of them have any brains (and a few of them do) they might want
to run and make a quick check to make sure it isn’t modeled after one of John
McCain’s seven homes.
Bill Clinton's Convention Speech
Published: August 27, 2008
The following is a transcript of former President Bill Clinton's speech at the
Democratic National Convention in Denver, as provided by CQ Transcriptions.
CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen...
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. You all sit down. We've
got to get on with the show here. Come on.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
Sit down.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
I am honored to be here tonight. Please, stop.
AUDIENCE: Bill! Bill! Bill!
CLINTON: Please stop. Sit down. Sit down. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Bill! Bill! Bill!
CLINTON: Please sit. Please sit.
You know, I -- I love this, and I thank you, but we have important work to do
tonight. I am here first to support Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
And, second -- and, second, I'm here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden...
(APPLAUSE)
... though, as you will soon see, he doesn't need any help from me.
(LAUGHTER)
I love Joe Biden, and America will, too.
What a year we Democrats have had. The primary began with an all-star line up.
And it came down to two remarkable Americans locked in a hard-fought contest
right to the very end. That campaign generated so much heat, it increased global
warming.
(LAUGHTER)
Now, in the end, my candidate didn't win. But I'm really proud of the campaign
she ran.
(APPLAUSE)
I am proud that she never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes
she pushed for, on the future she wanted for all our children. And I'm grateful
for the chance Chelsea and I had to go all over America to tell people about the
person we know and love.
Now, I am not so grateful for the chance to speak in the wake of Hillary's
magnificent speech last night.
(LAUGHTER)
But I'll do the best I can.
(APPLAUSE)
Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do
everything she can to elect Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
That makes two of us.
(APPLAUSE)
Actually, that makes 18 million of us...
(APPLAUSE)
... because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for
Barack Obama in November.
(APPLAUSE)
And here's why. And I have the privilege of speaking here, thanks to you, from a
perspective that no other American Democrat, except President Carter, can offer.
Our -- our nation is in trouble on two fronts. The American dream is under siege
at home, and America's leadership in the world has been weakened. Middle-class
and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining, job losses,
poverty, and inequality rising, mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt
increasing, health care coverage disappearing, and a very big spike in the cost
of food, utilities, and gasoline.
And our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and
too little cooperation...
(APPLAUSE)
... by a perilous dependence on imported oil, by a refusal to lead on global
warming, by a growing indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders, by a
severely burdened military, by a backsliding on global nonproliferation and arms
control agreements, and by a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy,
from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.
(APPLAUSE)
Clearly, the job of the next president is to rebuild the American dream and to
restore American leadership in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
And here's what I have to say about that. Everything I learned in my eight years
as president, and in the work I have done since in America and across the globe,
has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, he has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally
us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful
president needs. His policies on the economy, on taxes, on health care, on
energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives.
(APPLAUSE)
He has shown -- he has shown a clear grasp of foreign policy and national
security challenges and a firm commitment to rebuild our badly strained
military.
His family heritage and his life experiences have given him a unique capacity to
lead our increasingly diverse nation in an ever more interdependent world.
(APPLAUSE)
The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first
presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the
park.
(APPLAUSE)
With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven
understanding, instincts, and insight, America will have the national security
leadership we need.
And so, my fellow Democrats, I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America
and to restore American leadership in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE) As president, he will work for an America with more partners and
fewer adversaries. He will rebuild our frayed alliances and revitalize the
international institutions which helped to share the cost of the world's
problems and to leverage the power of our influence.
He will put us back in the forefront of the world's fight against global warming
and the fight to reduce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
(APPLAUSE)
He will continue and enhance our nation's commendable global leadership in an
area in which I am deeply involved: the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and
malaria, including -- including -- and this is very important -- a renewal of
the battle against HIV and AIDS here at home.
(APPLAUSE)
A President Obama will choose diplomacy first and military force as a last
resort.
(APPLAUSE)
But, in a world troubled by terror, by trafficking in weapons, drugs and people,
by human rights abuses of the most awful kind, by other threats to our security,
our interests, and our values, when he cannot convert adversaries into partners,
he will stand up to them.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama also will not allow the world's problems to obscure its
opportunities.
CLINTON: Everywhere, in rich and poor countries alike, hard- working people need
good jobs, secure, affordable health care, food and energy, quality education
for their children and economically beneficial ways to fight global warming.
These challenges cry out for American ideas and American innovation. When Barack
Obama unleashes them, America will save lives, win new allies, open new markets,
and create wonderful new jobs for our own people.
(APPLAUSE)
Most important of all, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad
unless we are first strong at home.
(APPLAUSE)
People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our
example than by the example of our power.
(APPLAUSE)
Look...
(APPLAUSE)
Look at the example the Republicans have set.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
In this decade, American workers have consistently given us rising productivity.
That means, year after year, they work harder and produce more.
Now, what did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many
new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension
benefits, rising poverty, and the biggest increase in income inequality since
the 1920s.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs
and declining coverage.
I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other serious
conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health
care and couldn't qualify their children for Medicaid unless they quit work and
starved or got a divorce.
Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of?
What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by multiple,
multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of
torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the
well-connected?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
And what about Katrina and cronyism?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that.
(APPLAUSE)
And Barack Obama will do better than that.
(APPLAUSE)
Wait a minute. But first...
AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes,
we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
CLINTON: Yes, he can, but, first, we have to elect him.
(APPLAUSE)
The choice is clear. The Republicans in a few days will nominate a good man who
has served our country heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese
prison camp. He loves his country every bit as much as we do. As a senator, he
has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some very important
issues.
But on the two great questions of this election -- how to rebuild the American
dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world -- he still embraces
the extreme philosophy that has defined his party for more than 25 years.
(APPLAUSE)
And it is, to be fair to all the Americans who aren't as hard- core Democrats as
we, it's a philosophy the American people never actually had a chance to see in
action fully until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the
White House and the Congress.
Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about
for decades actually were implemented. And look what happened.
They took us from record surpluses to an exploding debt; from over 22 million
new jobs to just 5 million; from increasing working families' incomes to nearly
$7,500 a year to a decline of more than $2,000 a year; from almost 8 million
Americans lifted out of poverty to more than 5.5 million driven into poverty;
and millions more losing their health insurance.
Now, in spite of all this evidence, their candidate is actually promising more
of the same.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
Think about it: more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the
deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy; more Band-Aids for health
care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families, and increase the
number of uninsured; more going it alone in the world, instead of building the
shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our
security and restore our influence.
They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them
four more.
AUDIENCE: No!
CLINTON: Now, let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all
across America, a simple message: Thanks, but no thanks.
In this case...
(APPLAUSE)
In this case, the third time is not the charm.
(APPLAUSE)
My fellow Democrats, 16 years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our
party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared
prosperity.
Together, we prevailed in a hard campaign in which Republicans said I was too
young and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.
(APPLAUSE)
Sound familiar?
AUDIENCE: Yes!
CLINTON: It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history.
And it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of
history.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, Senator Obama's life is a 21st-century incarnation of the old-fashioned
American dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the
more perfect union of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal
opportunity, which have given him his historic chance, will drive him as
president to give all Americans -- regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual
orientation, or disability -- their chance to build a decent life and to show
our humanity, as well as our strengths, to the world.
We see that humanity, that strength, and our nation's future in Barack and
Michelle Obama and their beautiful children.
We see them reinforced by the partnership with Joe Biden, his fabulous wife,
Jill, a wonderful teacher, and their family.
Barack Obama will lead us away from the division and fear of the last eight
years back to unity and hope.
So if, like me, you believe America must always be a place called Hope, then
join Hillary and Chelsea and me in making Barack Obama the next president of the
United States.
Thank you, and God bless you. Thank you.