I agree completely. His appearances have definitely been coordinated with the Obama campaign. It's no surprise that he started showing up on TV right after he met with Obama.

He was great on Letterman last night. By playing the role of unbiased elder statesmen, he is a much more credible advocate for Obama and the Democratic party. Just by showing his face on TV when the economy is bad, he reminds the American people that life is much better when Democrats run things.

Good call. I was completely fooled. I'm... well, I'm really impressed. Other politicians aren't even in his league. I wonder who came up with this angle.

has not only showed the appropriate honour Bill Clinton has shown, but has realized that what he is saying is the correct thing to say

Bill Clinton has the power to draw a crowd wherever he goes, and it's not just the party faithful. Here in Asheville, NC he drew thousands on a rainy night to a high school football stadium; thousands who stood on line for hours to see him.

There were plenty of fans, to be sure, but lots of moderates and even Republicans showed up just because they wanted to see a real live POTUS. These are the people who can swing the vote.

Excellent observation, excellent point. And this was very likely the strategy that was discussed in their previous meetings.

His sell is in the right pitch and right tone for his intended audience. The message is simple: Its okay to like McCain and still vote for Obama.

Good call ryeland, hopefully others (others including surrogates and grassroots campaigners) will see this and follow suit in their messaging over the next several weeks, especially in states like MI, OH, FL, and PA.

There are millions of voters out there who are not going to be gaga for Obama, who aren't his fans and who don't find him inspiring. There are millions who still have doubts about him (his youth, his inexperience, his newness on many levels... yes, including race).

Undecided voters who are still choosing their candidate don't have to buy Obama's books and believe in him or swoon at his oratorical skill, they simply need to go to the polls and vote for the Democrat.

That's the message which Bill Clinton is conveying and I have faith that it will work. It is a soft sell, it is positive, it is not over-the-top, it carries weight, gravitas and credibility. He doesn't have to demonize McCain or go over-the-top in his praise of Obama. Everyone on earth knows that Obama was not Bill Clinton's first choice in this race, millions of us can relate to that feeling and the resigned choice to support Obama.

That's good. Because I thought he might be acting like a petulant little boy who didn't get his way and is doing the absolute minimum required and can't bring himself to even utter Barack Obama's name. Thank goodness.

I'm in the Clinton fan club but it seems that he certainly has no love at all for Obama and he's having some difficulty faking it.

That said, the guy did provide some pretty interesting analysis (it sounds like he's one of the few people predicting a big win) and certainly has returned to the statesman role.

Of course the Clintons and the Obama campaign are working hand-in-hand. They couldn't be handling it any better.

If Hillary would have come out guns blazing in support of Obama right out of the gate, it would have looked insincere and staged. Giving her most enthusiastic supporters some time to accept Obama made a lot of sense, considering the long period of time she was viewed as the presumptive nominee.

With Bill, why would he provide his psychotic enemies on the right more time to paint him as an avid partisan? People remember the good times now more than ever.

This shows that Democrats are learning how to run on their strengths with creativity and guile.

I'm a huge Bill Clinton fan. All though I'm not an obssesive stalker like Diamond "Bigot" Jay a.k.a. Lakrosse upthread. He probably bought the Big Dog's boxers online and sniffes them before he goes to bed.

Oh yeah. This is a preemptive strike on this douche. I'm sure he won't appreciate somebody saying Bill was less than enthusiastic on bot the The View and Letterman.

I saw him on Letterman (live) and I disagree with your analysis on this point.

Chris Rock was right and the way the crowd erupted and immediately understood what he meant when he said ...

"He can't even say Barack Obama" says more than anything else.

That line got the biggest laugh and it wasn't even the funniest.

Why? He broke the OBVIOUS tension. Bill doesn't hide his feelings well.

I'm not complainging. As I said. I'm a much bigger BILL Clinton fan than an Obama fan but it is what it is.

All Democrats should be happy with the speech he gave  at the D.C. and leave it at that.

I don't share your view that the reason is some kind of media strategy.  He probably thinks the abject shilling that surrogates have to do is beneath a former President, and Obama probably isn't his favorite person in the world.  But Obama/McCain has his its own dynamic now and Bill isn't hurting anything.    

.... "demonizing" your opponent, trying to make cartoon characters out of people.

I saw him on The View and he is, IMHO, absolutely right.  People vote for many different reasons.  Some of us are yellow dog Democrats and wouldn't vote for a Republican or independent EVER.  Many like to think of themselves as "voting for the man" not the party.  BTW, that's largely said by Repubilcans who always vote Republican.

I LIKE the fact that he doesn't need to tromp on McCain or Palin in order to encourage people to vote for Barack.  

It is totally in line with Barack-speak who constantly proclaims that we need to stop the partisan bickering and work together.

It was Bill Clinton who said "there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America."  

I can understand why some people don't, but I did. Here's why:

I think we'd all just love to see Bill attack McCain and champion Obama exactly the way he would've had Hillary been the candidate. It'd give us all nice warm fuzzies about what a great guy he is and what a great guy Obama is and how we're a big happy family. It'd play great to the home crowd.

Problem is, he already did that in Denver. People who cared, watched.

Most of the appearance was just about Bill and his foundation. That's fine; he's got things to do other than just campaign. Hillary's out working hard for Obama; do you really think, whatever either really think about Obama, that she'd be out gung-ho for Obama and Bill would be playing tepid on purpose, undercutting her?

The last part was key. I've seen a lot of analysis that gives a bunch of reasons why undecideds are going to walk up to vote and decide at the last second to vote McCain. Most of them revolve around him being either the "safe" choice or his war record. Bill did the best he could to tilt the scale the other way. No one that was being strongly partisan could do that. Someone who says "bad McCain bad McCain bad bad bad nasty McCain" has no credibility to then say "McCain's sacrifice is admirable, and you can believe that and think he's pretty great, and yet also think Obama's a better choice for the country".

Bill is carefully positioned to be able to say nice things about McCain and then sow the seeds of doubt and apply a thin knife between the shoulderblades. I think he was positioning himself to do the same had it been Hillary running -- say a few nice things about McCain, then laugh softly and say, but of course Hillary is a better choice for the country.

But let's say I'm wrong. Let's say Bill is just playing tepid and just supporting Bill. What of it? What he said helped. Attacking him doesn't. He's very popular with a lot of people out there (and for good reason).

Attacking him and/or launching into the primary wars doesn't get us more votes in November.

Links?

I spend a lot of time at Dkos.  Didn't see these diaries.  Must have been the invisible ones.

I love Bill Clinton.  I'd have been mad.  Good thing they wrote them in disappearing bits.

I hope you've crossposted this elsewhere. LOTS of elsewheres.

people who think Senator Obama should be worshipped and idolized.  It's a mentality I do not get and will never get.  
They are the bitter ones. How dare people not worship "the one"?!  I call it the Oprah mentality, the American Idol mentality, the mentality of Americans that worship fame.....

I never felt that way about Bill  or Hillary or Al or any politician. I don't feel that way about Brad or Angelina or some singer or rock or anyway.  I outgrew that kind of swooning at about age 16.  

But apparently lots, even the political junkies have that.  The blind admiration of Olberman, Maddow, and the worship of Senator Obama.

Sheesh.

A jerk on Huffpo literally called out Bill and as said that if Obama loses, it's all Bill's fault.  HUH?  This bozo gets to write a column echoing the sentiments of a 12 year old world view??????
Why isn't Jimmy Carter being trashed for not doing more?  Or Al Gore?  Or John Kerry?

Give me a break.  The voters need to freaking grow up.  Bill Clinton is not the reason Obama wins or loses.  Obama is.  Period. End of discussion.

Sorry.  I suppose it's better if we believe fairy tales like this rather than the obvious truth.  Chris Rock nailed it.  

Surrogates stumping for a candidate don't usually praise the opposing candidate like this.  And rather than being a brilliant soft-sell, it only serves to further the already widespread media narrative that the Clintons are holding a grudge.  That hurts rather than helps.  If he can't make a strong showing of obvious and not "non-partisan" support for Obama then he should probably take a vacation until the election is over.  Not that he'll take my advice.

I used to be a big Bill Clinton fan, but if he can't open his mouth without praising McCain and drooling over Palin then he should just go away until Nov. 5. His strategy seems to be to gain votes for McCain/Palin while mouthing half-hearted support for the Democratic ticket.

Maureen Dowd hit the nail on the head this morning.

"I come from Arkansas. I get why she is hot out there," he said authoritatively, adding: "People look at her, and they say, `All those kids. Something that happens in everybody's family. I'm glad she loves her daughter and she's not ashamed of her. Glad that girl's going around with her boyfriend. Glad they're going to get married.' " He said voters would think: "I like that little Down syndrome kid. One of them lives down the street. They're wonderful. ... And I like the idea that this guy does those long-distance races. Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy."

On "The View," he said he understood that some women might vote for Palin on the basis of gender, even if it was against their economic interest.

"You can't tell someone else that the ground on which they make their voting decision is irrational," he said primly.

Well, actually you could, if you weren't still sulking and plotting for 2012.

He said it beautifully on Jon Stewart last night, where he was the guest. A man in the audience had complained that Clinton wasn't strong enough for Obama on Letterman the night before.

Clinton said "It's good that Obama has people who are so passionate about him but those are not the ones who will decide this election. I'm talking to those who are more concerned with what Obama will do for THEM rather than how much they like Obama,and those are the ones I'm talking to."

Bill has always been about...Bill.  Monica, the finger pointing 'I did not have relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky', the whole freakin' nine yards.  It is painfully obvious to virtually anybody who isn't enthralled with Bill.  I am not a huge fan of HRC, but after learning how she denied the whole 'BHO is not really one of us' campaign ideas from Penn, I found myself really, really wanting HRC to be VP.  

The problem with Bill's 'soft sell' is that is cuts both ways: it MIGHT work with independents, but it always might turn off portions of the base (i.e. working class whites who may not vote for Obama).  The 'soft sell' is your inference and is yet to be really proven, either way.

If Bill flat-out attacked McCain, well, then, there is NO denying whose side he's on.  This rather nebulous, free flowing 'elder statesmen' approach would be fine except that there are lingering suspicions (and CLEARLY BILL IS AWARE OF THESE LINGERING SUSPICIONS) that Bill might be still holding a grudge.  He's a competitive guy who doesn't like to lose.  

One thing we all can agree on: the approach that he took allowed for MULTIPLE interpretations and clearly Bill knew that there was that possibility.  

I wish I could say that it changes people's minds, but those of us with CDS will never truly be swayed, short of Bill deep throating Barack on a live feed from Obama's bedroom, while simultaneously calling him the "Supreme Potentate". While my description in a touch crude, it is exactly true.

The reason why I've come to respect Senator Obama little bit more is that in many ways, he is Bill Clinton part two. Some of the Bill bashers would do well to realize that.

But hey, the attack dogs like Kathleen Sebelius, John Kerry, Joe Biden, et al, must know more than the Big Dog about winning Presidential elections, right?

Oh...wait...