(CNN) – Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan drew a bold line between Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama saying the popular former president is a different kind of Democrat than Obama.
Ryan's comments come from an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan set to air Wednesday night during CNN's coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
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While treading carefully when asked if the United State's economy was better off after George W. Bush's eight years in office than it was under Bill Clinton, Ryan acknowledged both the economic crisis at the end of Bush's administration and the years of positive economic growth during Clinton's presidency but quickly pivoted to highlight the differences between the two Democrats.
"Bill Clinton was a different kind of Democrat than Barack Obama," Ryan said. "Bill Clinton gave us welfare reform. Bill Clinton worked with the Republicans to cut spending. Bill Clinton did not play the kind of political games that President Obama's playing."
Ryan's comments come ahead of Clinton's prime time address Wednesday in the 10 p.m. ET hour of Charlotte's Democratic National Convention. Clinton will formally enter President Obama's name into nomination as their party's nominee.
But counter-convention Republican chatter has suggested that Clinton's speech will overshadow Obama's Thursday night address, pointing to the former president's high popularity in recent polls.
In July, 66 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Clinton, matching his approval rating at the time of his inauguration in January 1993, according to a Gallup survey.
Ryan continued: "President Obama gave us more borrowing, more spending, much more regulating and it's putting a chilling effect on job creation."
Conceding that Obama inherited an ailing economy in 2008, Ryan reiterated frequently used Republican criticism that the president has made conditions worse.
"Usually when we have a deep recession in America, we come bounding out of it with fast economic growth and job creation," said Ryan pointing to the country's recovery after the recession of 1981-1982 and during the 1970s. "We're limping out of this recession right now. Economic growth is stagnant. Job creation is stagnant. The labor force participation rate is stagnant."
Ryan continued: "To make the argument that they're putting us on the right track just defies logic. It flies in the face of the facts."