Clinton stars in new Obama ad
(CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton takes center stage in a new ad released by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign on Thursday.
The former president, who’s been a top surrogate for Obama this year, largely praises Obama in the spot and attempts to draw a contrast between Republicans and Democrats this election year.
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"This is a clear choice. The Republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. That's what got us in trouble in the first place,” Clinton says in the ad. "President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up, investing in innovation, education, and job training. It only works if there is a strong middle class."
He later adds: "That's what happened when I was President. We need to keep going with his plan."
The 30-second ad, "Clear Choice," will air in the battleground states of New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.
Responding to the ad, Romney's campaign pointed to the Republican candidate's plan to spur economic growth.
"Mitt Romney's 'sterling' private sector experience and his Plan for a Stronger Middle Class offer a new direction. He will jumpstart economic growth, creating 12 million jobs and bringing hope to the middle class," said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.
Her statement referred to Clinton's praise of Romney's corporate experience, when he said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" in May that Romney had a "sterling business career" as CEO of Bain Capital. Clinton faced strong criticism from Democrats who had been using Romney's corporate history as an attack line.
In his stump speeches, Obama frequently credits Clinton-era policies for the strong economy in the '90s, arguing the country fared well under Clinton because he "understood what it takes for this economy."
"Nobody has a better grasp and understanding of the issues than this man," Obama said at a June fundraiser in New York.
Clinton was used in another political ad recently, though much to his chagrin.
Mitt Romney’s team featured the former president positively in a recent spot that attacks Obama for “gutting” the work requirement in the welfare reform law signed off by Clinton in 1996. The ad was part of a weeks-long campaign by Team Romney that leveled charges at Obama over his administration’s welfare adjustments.
However, Clinton himself, as well as fact-check groups and several news outlets, including CNN, have all said the Romney claim that Obama ended the work requirement is untrue.
Clinton had a staring role in an Obama campaign video in late April, with the former president praising the current president's role in last year's military raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.
Clinton, who was set to headline a pro-Obama super PAC event this month, will further cement his role as a major player in this year's election when he delivers a prime time speech at the Democratic National Convention in September.
The former president also joined Obama at an April fundraiser in Virginia.
- CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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I miss Clinton.. May have been off on the family values thing but he didn't crush the American dream like Bush 2. Thx for the 700,000 jobs a month out the door Dubya. We don't forget.
So what? Our economy is weak. Gas, food, and other necessity prices are going up. Unemployment is still high. We are worse off now than 4 years ago and that was no picnic either.
Remember months ago Clinton said Romney was a very good candidate, now he flip flops. That is right that is what he did when he was President of the United States. Remember Rawanda
Padraig
So what? Our economy is weak. Gas, food, and other necessity prices are going up. Unemployment is still high. We are worse off now than 4 years ago and that was no picnic either.
Remember months ago Clinton said Romney was a very good candidate, now he flip flops. That is right that is what he did when he was President of the United States. Remember Rawanda
______________
LOL
Clinton is a flip flopper? Romney is the KING of flip flopping. Things he said as a senate and gubernatorial candidate no longer apply, he is now saying the exact opposite as a presidential candidate.
Really, Padraig, you *have* to do better than that.
8.3% unemployment – Over 8% 42 Straight months and the Obama Jobs DEPRESSION continues unabated
Dyslexic doG – Bush inherited a relatively strong economy, a budget surplus, and a nation at peace.
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And now the truth.... Bush was handed a RECESSION (dot com bubble burst sound familiar?), the budget surplus was from the Republican congress and "a nation at peace" except for all those terroist attacks from the thousands of al-quada in Afghan training camps and Clinton's refusal to approve the takedown of Bin Laden when they literally had him in the gun sights.
=========================================================================================
Just so I have your logic correct, you are blaming Obama for the "Obama Jobs Depression" when he came into office, but you are then blaming Clinton for handing Bush "Recession from a dot com busrt". So in one instance the Republican coming into office is not to blame for an economy that he was "handed" even though we were NOT in a recession at the hand off, and on the other side, the Democrat is to blame for the actual recession we were in when he stepped into office replacing Bush.
Classic, and this is why I have a hard time listening to anything a republican has to say these days.... Just classic.
Padraig, Clinton was offering his opinion on Romney as a candidate, not on his policies. He slammed Romney for his tax policies, which he (correctly) pointed out were disproportionately tilted towrds the wealthy ( which he counts himsself among). Bill Clinton takes a very nuanced approach, which I'm certain is unfamiliar to most righties, but its an approach that yields results. Your post was nothing more than a group of words roaming cyberspace in search of a premise. By the way, things are better than they were, and no thanks to worthless fools like Ryan, who put in no effort to make things better for the middle class.
What a great person to represent the Dems on the war on women.
padraig.......Clinton never said Romney was a good candidate.......he said he had a sterling business career (meaning he made a lot of money). Those two things are not the same........being a good businessman does not mean a person would also be a good steward of our country.......very different job descriptions and skill sets.
Clinton is a known liar Hahahahaha!
wonder why robme not using dubya in his ad?
Clinton? REALLY???
President Clinton: Thank you! You were one of our best Presidents, and your presence is very much needed and appreciated. You provide a comfort level that we all need.
Thank you for your support of our President. He has made things much better. And, given the complete depression we were in thanks to 8 years of the Republican's White House crown, it is amazing how much our President has done for our country.
President Obama has dug us a great distance out of the Republican hole, and in a very short period of time. This economic depression he was left with was huge, but he is intelligent, caring, and has the vision to bring our country back to the greatness it is. He has also healed the serious wounds inflicted upon our foreign allies by the previous
administration. French fires to freedom fries. Do you believe this? The Republicans attacked an American-made,
American-created culinary fried food.
United we will win this. Thank you again
Obama/Biden 2012
What a great speaker to have for the women voters out there hope you brought your stain guard and lie detectors so you can tell when he is telling the truth or just wait until his lips stop moving then you will know he is not telling a lie.
After all the lies Obama told about his wife I guess all fences have been mended what a joke.
So Clinton gets all the credit for the economic surplus that happened in his first 4 years but Obama gets to take absolutely no accountability for these past 4 years? Seems legit. The country started to take a nose dive in 2002, about 14 months after Clinton left, and Bush was also, somehow, responsible for that, too. The Obama campaign slogan should be changed to "Blaming Bush Until 2016. Or Longer. Don't Know Yet. Depends If Things Turn Around. Then It's Because of Obama"
It's pretty bad when you have to get someone who has pretty much lied about all his dealing with women to be your spokesman. I just don't get how the Democrats are the party for women? Although, Clinton was much better then Barrack will ever be!
lets say Romney wins, the same way he takes over a company or a factory, would he shut the government down and fire everybody the same way he did with the steel factory in order to balance his books.
Guys im a conservative and i had a lot of respect for Clinton even though he was almost impeached. What i dont appreciate is that we all truly know how much Clinton hates Obama (for playing so dirty against his wife) but he still decides to help Obama and join the sinking ship that NOBAMA has created!!! I dont have any respect for you anymore.
@ Tom Paine –
"Where in this country was gas under $2 a gallon? We have not see gas that cheap in almost a decade. Currently, yes, its approaching $4: get your facts straight."
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Gas averaged $1.79 a gallon atthe very beginning of the Obama administration. It's easy to google it if you gave it shot.
The statement that Mitt Romney had a "sterling business career" is absolutely wrong. Romney was a vulture capitalist that bought companies, stripped them of their capital, raped their pension funds, shipped their work overseas, and then closed the plants putting Americans out of work. This is anything but sterling and he should be behind bars like any other thief!
When are we going to regulate banksters. They are WAY overrepresented in our government. to the point of deep regulatory capture (including our educational system).
reverse glas stegal that clinton signed. get our trade agreements straightened out. throw the banksters out of our government.
Wilson wrote:
And there goes what little credibility you had left. Yes, gas did get that high under Bush, but by the time Obama took office gas was back down to under $2 a gallon!.....
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Do you understand economics? Supply and demand? Hmm?
The reason why the price dropped is because demand dropped off of a cliff, while production remained fixed for a few months. Exporters were committed to shipping X number of barrel of barrels because of commitments made to futures contracts. Also, the fact that a whole lot of speculators were put out of work while the rest were under the microscope drove down the price of oil, too.
That will harm him, but whatever. at this point we know both sides are so corrupt that there's no reason to even vote anyway. they probably don't count them anyway.
watch River of Waste, and Life and Debt.
somebody wrote:
And now the truth.... Bush was handed a RECESSION (dot com bubble burst sound familiar?), the budget surplus was from the Republican congress and "a nation at peace" .....
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The dot.com bubble was already well on its' way to healing when Bush took office. The recession he inherited had more to do with Alan Greenspan piddling with the prime rate every other week for several months. ("Irrational Exuberance"...sound familiar) Greenspan tried to slow the economy down, specifically he tried to slow Wall Street down. He kept raising rates until the economy finally stalled because of his over tampering. They lowered rates to sensible levels and Wall Street took off like a rocket again. Conservatives like to credit the Bush tax cuts for that investor prosperity, but it had more to do with the prime rate being lowered. The middle class withered under the Bush Tax Cuts and continues to do so now.
-Fair is Fair
@ Tom Paine –
"Where in this country was gas under $2 a gallon? We have not see gas that cheap in almost a decade. Currently, yes, its approaching $4: get your facts straight."
-–
Gas averaged $1.79 a gallon atthe very beginning of the Obama administration. It's easy to google it if you gave it shot.
*****************
I don't need to Google that subject, I have something called a memory, which is apparently something you frequently choose to turn on and off. If you actually tried to function using what you are equipped with, you might remember that. I also see to remember an occasion earlier this year when you tried to pass off a picture of a gas station in Orlando charging $6 or more for gas as the national norm, because it suited the narrative you like to push. You actually have a natural filter, please try to use it. When I presented you with information that was googled regarding Romney's failures as governor, you accused me of making it up, when it came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( a site you told me to go to). Don't lecture anyone on source material, since you cheerfully ignore anything that does not fit your narrative of "Romney is God, Obama is the Devil".
Mitt, are those 12 million jobs all at Dominos and Staples?
The old people will really need it when their health care dollars run out.