Law Students

Rolling the Dice

By otium cum dignitate

I'm a pretty big fan of Bill Clinton, as a politician, but I can't agree with his statement this weekend on the Charlie Rose show when he said that voters willing to support Obama should think twice before they decide to "roll the dice." 

Apparently, Bill questioned Obama's ability to be President because he has only served one year in the Senate.  This seems a somewhat odd statement considering that Bill himself proved that extended Senate service is an unnecessary bullet point on a Presidential candidate's resume. 

The New York Post (always respectable) reported that Bill had more to say:

"He also had this backhanded compliment for his wife's rival: 'I get tickled watching him.'"

Odd.

Bill should probably just stay quiet for the time being.  His best chance at providing a boost to Hillary's campaign is just to be his normal likable self.

UPDATE:

Richard Cohen addressed the Change v. Experience dynamic between Obama and Hillary in his column today, and had the following to offer:

"Of course, it is too late in the game for Hillary Clinton to repackage herself as an agent of change. Her entire demeanor has been a steady-as-she-goes solidity, resolutely sensible, reliably reliable -- an A in every subject by dint, if nothing more, of diligence. She and Bill extol her experience, but that only ties her more to the status quo and, by proximity, to the problems of the day. When things are not working -- and, after all, things are not working -- Bill Clinton himself has shown that in presidential politics, change trumps experience any day."

Again, Bill's Presidential appeal was his fresh voice - he wasn't a "Washington Insider."  Bill's continual presence on the campaign trail may ironically convince voters that the Bill Clinton in this 2008 race may be more like Obama than Hillary herself. 

Full post as published by otium cum dignitate on December 17, 2007 (boomark / email).