Bill Clinton heaps praise on Sarah Palin, John McCain. Barack Obama? Not so much.
Posted By: Toby Harnden at Sep 19, 2008 at 04:15:00 [General]
Posted in: Foreign Correspondents
Tags:View More Barack Obama , Bill Clinton , cnbc , Hillary Clinton , Joe Biden , John McCain , maria bartiromo , Presidential debates , Sarah Palin , US Elections
blogs.telegraph.co.uk
Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is "an instinctively effective candidate" with a "compelling story", according to former president Bill Clinton. "I think it was exciting to some, that she was a woman," he continued, warming to his theme in an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo,
"It was exciting that she was from Alaska. It was exciting that she's sort of like the person she is. And she grew up in a, came up in a political culture and a religious culture that is probably well to the right of the American centre. But she didn't basically define herself in those terms.
"She handled herself very well. I get why she's done so well. She, she's, it's a mistake to underestimate her. She's got good intuitive skills. They're significant."
Hmm. Hardly the Obama campaign's talking points, though at least he didn't describe her as "cute".
So what about John McCain?
Clinton said: "I've never concealed my admiration and affection for Senator McCain. I think he's a great man."
Got that? Admirable, likeable, marked with greatness. Don't expect to see that in an Obama ad any time soon.
How about Hillary Clinton, who has urged her supporters to vote for Obama and promised to do everything she can to get him elected?
Bill Clinton could easily have dodged the hypothetical but, no, he said that his wife might indeed run again in 2012 if McCain were to win the White House in November. "I don't know. You know the one thing we've learned at, at our age is that, you know, I hope we're both active till we're 90 and healthy.
"But, I think that her focus will now be on what she can do in her present positions to try to help her deal with all these things that threw her into the presidential race in the first place. I think that, that what she will do is to continue to try to be a national voice as a result of her campaign on economic and healthcare and energy issues that got her into this presidential race in the first place."
OK. But surely he extolled the extraordinary qualities and wisdom of Barack Obama and Joe Biden? Well, not exactly.
"But, I think, on the issues that matter to our future, the Obama-Biden team is, is more right," he said. Mr Obama, he opined, "has offered some very specific and sensible economic reforms and healthcare reforms".
Yep. Specific, sensible, "more right" that the Republican nominee. Pretty faint praise. In case the message hadn't got through, he added that it was his wife who had given "the most detailed position I've seen on what she felt we ought to do on the finance crisis".
Perhaps it was wishful thinking but the 42nd president didn't even seem all that convinced that Obama would prevail over McCain. He said that "I believe they're going to win but I think that it will be competitive until the end".
He elaborated: "I think what, what typically happens in these elections if you look throughout American history when the country's in a fix and you know where we're going is not sustainable, then there is typically a breakthrough.
"I think that the, the people said, 'Well, they [the Republican party] had the Congress and the White House for six of the last eight years. We're in trouble. We liked Senator McCain. We recognise he's a little bit of a different kind of Republican. But, we're going to make a change.' And I think that's where they'll be and I think that you'll see a victory for Obama and Biden."
Clinton suggested, however, that there might be a surprise that could scupper Obama. "Barring some unforeseen development like in, something happens in the debates we don't know about. It may not be apparent in the polls until last week or two of the election. But, I believe that it will be apparent on election day. I think that, I think Senator Obama will win this election." |
