Keller @ Large: Will New Clinton Ad Help Obama In NH?
BOSTON (CBS) - It's only been on the air for a couple of days, but the Obama campaign seems intent on flooding New Hampshire with their latest ad featuring a testimonial from none other than former President Bill Clinton, for my money, the most consistently amazing political figure of our time.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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If you haven't seen it yet, it features Clinton explaining to you how the election is "a clear choice" about "which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment."
What an interesting choice of words.
Not the usual promise to "create jobs" or a specific pledge to… do anything, really.
The he says the Republican plan is, in part, to "go back to deregulation, that's what got us in trouble in the first place."
No doubt, but hold on a second.
Wasn't it President Clinton who helped marshal huge majorities in Congress in favor of much of the deregulation that paved the way for the derivative orgy on Wall Street and the economic collapse?
Why, yes it was!
But before we can savor that context, Clinton is explaining how President Obama's plan is "investing" in rebuilding the economy "from the ground up," which, judging from the accompanying video, seems to revolve around solar panels.
But hold your excitement in check please.
"It only works if there is a strong middle class," he cautions. "That's what happened when I was president."
I remember that.
President Clinton presided over the longest stretch of economic growth during peacetime in our history, with a mix of tax hikes and free trade policies that cut the deficit and sent Wall Street booming.
By the time he left office, the polls showed that people didn't trust him personally, finding him at times just as slippery as his rhetoric in this Obama ad.
But they thought he had done a great job as president, and gave him the highest job-approval rating of any president since the 1940s.
Will people heed Clinton's admonition to stick with Obama? Maybe.
But I bet more of them will secretly wish he would take over the job himself.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
