PHILADELPHIA — President Bill Clinton vouched for his wife as a “change maker” in a touching, personal testimonial on behalf of her nomination to the post he held for two terms in the 1990s.
A few hours after the Democratic convention made Hillary Clinton the first woman to lead a major party ticket in the United States, the former president stepped to the stage to assume a familiar role, yet amid extraordinary circumstances.
Bill Clinton, 69, has been among the Democratic Party’s most popular and effective surrogate speakers since leaving the White House in 2001.
As President Obama was fighting to win re-election through high unemployment and sluggish growth, Bill Clinton came to the rescue with one of the more powerful lines of the 2012 convention when he said that no one could have fixed an economy wrecked by the Great Recession in just four years, “not even me.”
But Tuesday evening, Clinton was called on to make the case for his party’s presidential nominee not as a political surrogate, but as a political spouse.
It’s a task that has at times been difficult for him and which he’s miffed — causing Hillary Clinton political blowback in her two campaigns for the White House, in 2008 and this year. But the former president appeared to pull it off, in an address that wasn’t entirely devoid of politics, but that was highly personal and all about her.
“In the spring of 1971, I met a girl,” Clinton said as his speech opened to a deafening standing ovation from a packed arena. “The first time I saw her, we were both, oddly enough, in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blonde hair, big glasses — she wore no makeup. And she exuded this sense of strength an self-possession that I found magnetic.”
Over the next 40 minutes, Bill Clinton weaved a tail of their courtship, marriage of 41 years and the raising of daughter Chelsea, who will address the convention on Thursday, before Hillary Clinton formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton sprinkled in each episode of their life together with vignettes about his wife that detailed an accomplishment or act of selflessness that made people’s lives better.
Bill Clinton left out his well-documented extra-marital affairs, impeachment and other controversies from his administration; nor did he remark on Hillary Clinton’s share of scandal, most notably her use of a private email server and handling of classified material while serving as secretary of state that FBI Director James Comey described as careless and bordering criminality.
But in trying to shore up Hillary Clinton’s biggest weakness in the race against Republican nominee Donald Trump — that she isn’t honest and trustworthy and cares more about herself than others, with a moving testimonial to her compassion and competence, the former president subtly conceded his wife’s trouble connecting with voters and the political damage the email scandal has caused.
And so Bill Clinton detailed his wife’s career as first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the United States, U.S. senator from New York and finally Obama’s first secretary of state, he used each level of the speech to explain that his wife does care about people, is competent, and can be trusted to do the right thing.
It was an unmistakable attempt on Bill Clinton’s part to do for the 2016 Democratic nominee what he did for Obama four years ago when he vouched for his stewardship of an economy even though it was performing far below expectations.
“What’s the difference in what I told you than what [the Republicans] said? How does this square with the things that you heard at the Republican convention?” Clinton said. “One is real, one is made up. You just have to decide which is which my fellow Americans. The real one had done more positive change making before she was 30 than most public officials do in a lifetime…The real one calls you when you’re sick, when you’re kid’s in trouble or when there’s a death in the family.”
Convention delegates loved it, and they loved it because they recognize Hillary Clinton’s deficiencies as one of the most unpopular presidential nominees in history and hope that her husband changed some minds and began the work of recasting her negative image.
“Hillary’s been beat up on a lot, and I think this speech went a long way in trying to change that paradigm and dial back some of the negative things,” said Brenda Gilmore, a Clinton delegate from Tennessee. “Although she’s been in the spotlight for a number of years, she’s been working on being that change agent he talked about.”
“I think any American would love to have Bill Clinton tell their story,” added Wisconsin State Rep. Peter Barca, who watched the speech from the convention floor. “Just like four years ago, I thought he made the best case for re-election of President Obama, as always, he just finds a way to inspire you and excite you and motivate you.”
Bill Clinton keynoted Day Two of the Democratic convention in prime time on a day of history and firsts.
Hillary Clinton, Obama’s first secretary of state, a former first lady, and ex-U.S. senator from New York, became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party. In turn, Bill Clinton became the first former president to speak on behalf of his spouse’s nomination to the same high office.
Ryan Lovelace and Sarah Westwood contributed to this report.
