|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Clinton '92 Vs. Obama '08
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Race
|
| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Dec 17, 2007 04:14pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | News |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Monday, December 17, 2007 10:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Bill Clinton says Sen. Barack Obama is a callow, highly ambitious political prodigy who is asking voters to "roll the dice" and elect him president.
He should know — that's a fair description of Clinton when he sought the presidency in 1992.
The fact that the former president is stealing a page from the same Republican playbook used against him 15 years ago underscores the threat Obama poses to the candidacy of Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
It also illustrates Clinton's penchant for rewriting history.
"Even when I was a governor and young and thought I was the best politician in the Democratic Party, I didn't run the first time. I could have," Clinton said on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show," referring to the 1988 presidential campaign.
"And I had lots of Democratic governors encouraging me to. I knew in my bones I shouldn't run — that I was a good enough politician to win, but I didn't think I was ready to be president," Clinton said.
While there may be some truth to that statement, Clinton didn't seem at the time to lack confidence in his abilities as governor or a potential president. He was worried about rumors of infidelity, some which were investigated by his own staff, and privately expressed doubts about whether he could win in 1988.
"He's being a little disingenuous," said Art English, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Clinton was 42 in 1988, four years younger than Obama is now. Already one of the nation's longest serving governors, Clinton had a limited number of accomplishments between 1988 and 1992 that added to his depth of experience — other than winning a fifth term as Arkansas governor while promising not to seek the presidency before his term expired.
He broke that promise.
|
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
