What Bill Clinton should say
Total fantasy, but maybe you’ll enjoy:
First, let me promise you that I won’t talk for two hours. I think I can make three and a half with no problem. If you think that’s funny, remember it three hours from now.
I’m pleased to be here speaking to you as we watch George W. Bush’s time in the White House wind to a close. Not as pleased as I’d be if it were Al Gore’s second term ending, but I appreciate the moment in history. I had hoped to be speaking in Michelle Obama’s time-slot, but the voters in the Democratic Party thought she looked better in a dress. As a final word on that process, let me just say that the media is always unkind to us “full-figured” people.
I have to tell you, though - Michelle Obama is one incredible woman. If this election is about judgment, then maybe we should toss her name into nomination. After all, she’s the one with the judgment to pick Barack Obama as her husband. The old saying is that “behind every great man is a woman,” but women like Michelle Obama - and the esteemed Senator from New York - are proving that is outdated. So tonight, let’s create a new old saying, “Beside every great man is a great woman.”
I’ll be honest with you: I had planned to be telling this convention how great it is going to be to have Hillary Clinton back in the White House. I guess I’ll hold onto that speech for eight years and then we’ll all get back together and you can hear it then. But tonight is not about Hillary’s future. It’s not even about my past or my legacy. I’ve always believed that elections are about the future, not the past. That remains true.
So I won’t talk much about my time in Washington - although it was a lot better than the last eight years have been. I think history will say that George W. Bush’s policies boil down to “do the opposite of Bill Clinton.” I pursued terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, he ignored a memo entitled “Bin Laden Intent on Attacking America”. I brought Israel and Palestine to the negotiating table, he gave them a roadmap to no where. My economic plan brought widespread prosperity, his stagnated wages and raised inflation so that most Americans are further behind than they were in 2001. During my terms in office, more Americans than ever before bought their own homes. During his two terms, more Americans than ever before lost their own homes. With the historical exception of the Great Depression, of course. Oh, and we’ll also have to exempt John McCain from that statement - but then again he doesn’t know how many houses he has, so maybe he’s lost a few along the way, too.
But you don’t need me to tell you about the last sixteen years. You were there with me. You saw it. You saw how the dreams and aspirations of the entire Democratic Party were derailed by a concerted right-wing effort to destroy a President with whom they had political differences. You saw them attack me, my wife, and everything you and I believe in. It wasn’t enough to defeat policy initiatives or to win elections. They sought personal destruction and political devastation. They didn’t care if the American people were hurt in the process. All they cared about was Bill Clinton’s face in the crosshairs - thank God I never went quail-hunting with Dick Cheney.
What you need to see is that they are going to do it again - if you let them. Barack Obama scares the daylights out of them because he appeals to a broad cross-section of America. He’s putting states in play that they haven’t had to worry about in decades. He’s showing how morally bankrupt and dangerous their policies and failed ideology really is. He’s building a coalition that Democrats will build on in the future. They look at Barack Obama and they see a future with nothing but Democratic victories and tangible gains for Americans.
So they aren’t going to just throw the book at him, they’re going to chuck a whole library at him. As they begin to read the handwriting on the wall, they are going to get desperate. When they get desperate, they’ll get nasty. If you think they’ve been nasty so far, let me tell you - you haven’t seen anything yet. I know. I’ve been on the receiving end of that blind hatred.
They’re going to tell you that he’s not a real Christian, that he’s a secret Muslim, that he isn’t really American, that he doesn’t love his wife, his kids, or his country. They’re going to say he’s an angry black man. They’re going to say that he hates apple pie. Well, the last time I checked, the United Church of Christ is a Christian denomination, Hawaii was the fiftieth state, and anyone who doesn’t think he loves his family isn’t just blind, they’re stupid. And let me tell you something about loving your country - no one who stands up here and takes all these outrageous slings and arrows of undeserved mockery and character assassination would do it if they didn’t love the country they hope to serve. Personal ambition may be a part of it - anyone who says differently is lying through their teeth - but personal ambition is also part of going to college to improve your job prospects. My God, if we’re going to disparage hope and ambition, then what’s left for us to reach for? Desperation and defeat? That’s not the America I know.
And angry? Look, if you aren’t angry right now, then you aren’t paying attention. Of course Barack Obama is angry. But he isn’t stomping around like a spoiled child. He’s angry like a warrior going into battle - he’s harnassing his anger to turn it on the real enemies - avarice and greed, unrestrained self-interest above love of country, ignorance and want, despair and hopelessness. That’s what we’re really fighting here. And I don’t care if you’re black or white, man or woman, native born or immigrant - if you love this country and you’re ready to fight to make it a better place for all Americans, then you have no choice but to support Barack Obama. You can lead, follow, or get out of the way. This train is bound for glory and there’s a ticket with your name on it. If you don’t want it, we won’t force it on you - but you can’t say we didn’t offer and you really shouldn’t stand on the tracks in front of us.
You’re going to hear that Barack Obama doesn’t fight enough. He doesn’t support women enough. He isn’t pro-labor enough. He isn’t experienced enough. His rhetoric is too inspiring and his worldview too naive. You’re even going to hear some people say he isn’t black enough and others will say he’s too black. They’re going to lie to you about him just like they lied about me. You can decide to start believing the people that have lied to you for nigh onto twenty years or you can trust the people that have marched with you through the hell of the civil rights battles and the high water of Katrina.
Even if you want to believe these lies that Barack Obama isn’t enough of a Democrat - and that’s what they’re really saying, by the way - even if you want to believe those lies, the choice isn’t between Barack Obama and someone who beats him on any of these issues. It’s between Barack Obama and John McCain. And while the other side is busy whitewashing history and trying to say that the Senator from Arizona is some kind of maverick, the record says otherwise. Where was he when George W. Bush wanted to invade Iraq because of false intelligence? Where was he when the Department of Justice was firing US Attorneys for not investigating Democrats during elections? Where was he when George W. Bush outed a CIA agent and then pardoned the only person they offered up as a sacrifice? Where was John McCain when activist conservative judges were nominated time and time again by the Bush Administration?
I’ll tell you where he was. He was voting with his Republican colleagues and keeping his mouth shut. He was being a good Republican soldier just like he was a good American soldier in Vietnam - except this time he was fighting against Americans instead of for them. He was sitting in the same place then as he was on February 12, 1999 when he voted with the rest of the Republicans to impeach President William Jefferson Clinton, just like John Ashcroft and Conrad Burns and Larry Craig and Pete Dominici and Bill Frist and Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond. He voted with George W. Bush one hundred percent of the time during the past year - including a vote against his fellow veterans on a bill sponsored by former US Marine Jim Webb to increase the GI Bill benefits. It looks to me like there is nothing that matters more to John McCain than being a good Republican - not his fellow veterans, not the safety and security of the United States, nothing. And if that’s how he is when he’s trying to convince you to vote for him, how much more extreme will he be when he’s safely in the White House?
We can’t let that happen. I can’t let that happen. I’d really love to see Hillary Clinton’s name on that ballot, but I’d much rather see Barack Obama leading America back to prosperity than to see John McCain continue the legacy of Republican failure in the Presidency. I love my wife, but I also love my country. A vote for Barack Obama is not a vote against Hillary Clinton, it’s a vote for America. I can’t put it any more simply than that. If you love this country; then you must do everything in your power to make sure the very best person for the job is elected President - and this year that person is Barack Obama.
It’s going to get bad. Real bad. And each of you has the choice to either help them or stop them. Every time a Democrat says they aren’t going to vote for Barack Obama, they win. Every time a Democrat says that Barack Obama hasn’t closed the deal, they win. Every time that a Democrat says that we’ve put forth a second-rate candidate, they win. Well, I’m tired of them winning. It’s time to grow up. The battle is on the horizon and we can either put on the breastplate of faith or we can be run through with the sword of hatred. It’s your choice.
As for me and my family - we choose Barack Obama.
