Bill Clinton Shows Democrats Are More United Than in 2008

By- Sarah Betancourt

Tonight, former president Bill Clinton will promote and validate the man with whom he and Hillary Clinton had political differences less than four years ago. The Obama campaign is banking on Clinton to present the Democratic Party as a united front–a vision quite different than in 2008.

“In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president’s re-election was pretty simple: We left him a total mess, he hasn’t finished cleaning it up yet, so fire him and put us back in,” Clinton will say, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the Obama campaign. He will offer a strong defense of Obama’s record on the economy, and his successful efforts to halt the economic crisis.

While the Republican party will be correctly portrayed as the selfish winner-takes-all party, and the party of “no,” the Democratic Party will be offered up as an all-inclusive party striving for shared responsibility and success.

By: Sarah Betancourt

Sarah Betancourt is a Boston-based journalist who has written for In These Times, Open Media Boston, Spare Change News, Boston.com, the Boston Globe Environment Blog, and has had work appear in video on the National Geographic Water Currents Blog. She writes primarily about Boston politics, labor, Generation Y issues, and environmental policy.