Barack Obama and former President Clinton talked for two hours on Thursday, their first meeting in a White House race that had once bitterly divided them. Clinton predicted that Obama will win the presidency "pretty handily."
Their conversation started with small talk about the former president's commute to his Harlem office and ended after a lunch of sandwiches, flatbread pizza and salad from Cosi.
"They discussed the campaign briefly, but mostly talked about how the world has changed since September 11, 2001," their spokesmen said in a joint statement. The meeting came on the seventh anniversary of the attacks and shortly before Obama was to visit Ground Zero with Republican presidential rival John McCain.
Reporters were allowed in at the beginning of the meeting in Clinton's 14th floor office, but the former president kept his answers short when he was asked about his involvement with Obama's campaign this fall. He noted an already announced trip Sept. 29 to Florida.
Obama said, "We're putting him to work."
Asked if he would be campaigning beyond that, Clinton said, "I've agreed to do a substantial number of things, whatever I'm asked to do."
Before reporters were ushered out, Clinton was asked where he sees the race between Obama and McCain.
"I predict that Senator Obama will win and win pretty handily," he said.
Obama interjected: "You can take it from the president of the United States. He knows a little something about politics."
Obama and Bill Clinton appeared less friendly toward each other at times during Obama's Democratic primary battle with Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. After Obama clinched the party's nomination, both Clintons gave strong speeches in Obama's favor during the party convention in Denver.
Obama's visit to Clinton's Harlem office, which overlooks Central Park, sparked excitement in the neighborhood, with people crowding around police barricades that shut off the block. The two men briefly appeared in front of the building, where a large group had been waiting for hours in hopes of a glimpse.
People screamed loudly and snapped cell phone pictures when the two emerged. Obama ducked back in the building with Clinton after a few waves but without shaking hands.
Their spokesmen said the two men were complimentary of each other's work, with Obama praising the Clinton Foundation, and Clinton applauding the candidate's campaign.
"They also spoke about what the next president can do to help make the economy work for all Americans, as it did under President Clinton, and ensure safety and prosperity far beyond the coming the election," their joint statement said.
Hmm... how bout that...
So what. After the battering Obama's campaign has been taking, is this photo op an attempt to resurrect his image as presidential material? Lately, the election appears to be a contest between Obama and Palin, with McCain left standing above the fray, thus boosting his own image.
Obama showed poor judgment by having failied and continuing to fail to include Hillary Clinton in a power position. It could have been VP; it could have been Secretary of State.
All McCain or his surrogates have to do now is repeat the mantra: "He [Obama] snubbed a woman [Hillary]." (and imply that he (McCain) did not).
I'll wait and see. I never thought from the getgo that Bill and Hillary would pull out all the stops to get Obama elected. Maybe they will, and maybe they won't. If they do, it will be because they don't want to be Democratic Party scapegoats if Obama loses. Also, if they can help Obama win, it increases their own poliical prestige (which is always important to Clinton egos). Finally, Bill and Hillary might have just had an epiphany that letting Obama lose the election won't help them (they'll be persona non grata in a McCain/Palin administration). If they help Obama win, Bill and Hillary wii have an open invitation to the White House and Dem inner circles.
So what. After the battering Obama's campaign has been taking, is this photo op an attempt to resurrect his image as presidential material? Lately, the election appears to be a contest between Obama and Palin, with McCain left standing above the fray, thus boosting his own image.
Obama showed poor judgment by having failied and continuing to fail to include Hillary Clinton in a power position. It could have been VP; it could have been Secretary of State.
All McCain or his surrogates have to do now is repeat the mantra: "He [Obama] snubbed a woman [Hillary]." (and imply that he (McCain) did not).
Wishful thinking. McCain is anything but "above the fray." The man is in the gutter, repeating GOP cliches every chance he gets.
I give the American people and mainly the women more credit than to just vote for McCain/Palin because she is a woman. I'm sure most American women realize their right to choose and many other things will be taken away under this duo. So, Hillary please get out there and talk to your supporters and have them talk to their friends, family whoever and get them out to vote for OBAMA. America can not afford another 4 years of what we have. As you see it can't it can't afford it NOW!!! This will go down as the worst 8 years in American history of the Bush Blunders.
Obama showed poor judgment by having failied and continuing to fail to include Hillary Clinton in a power position. It could have been VP; it could have been Secretary of State.
Are you suggesting that Obama should announce his cabinet choices before he wins the election? Get real.
Are you suggesting that Obama should announce his cabinet choices before he wins the election? Get real.
Why is that such a bad idea? It would have been nice to know about Al Haig AND James Watts before they were nominated formally.
Personally, I don't think Obama needed Hillary Clinton to win this election. Also, I think Hillary wants something else like Secretary of State or Supreme Court. When all is said and done people will vote conerning the economy even if Satan was a candidate himself because it is about self-preservation now for most americans. If circumstances in our country were different then I would agree that Obama would need Clinton to win but I think he will do just fine without her.
Alicia
I am so sick of the Obama supporters that think they can go it alone. That is how Obama felt too until reality hit. Now Obama KNOWS he needs the Clintons. That is why he met Bill today in New York. I wonder if you read the Fineman article?
It ought be change for everybody, or change for nobody. Obama's go-it-alone strategy betrays his arrogance. He alienated a lot of powerful people when he snubbed Hillary Clinton, including a lot of women. He is no different than any other self-serving individual.
It would have been nice to know about Al Haig AND James Watts before they were nominated formally.
Yeah, maybe it would, but I'm not aware of any president that has announced cabinet choices before winning an election. Besides, if Obama were to do that I can imagine the uproar from the right as they crucify him for being arrogant and presumptuous.
I saw the video clip of this news event. President Clinton said he would be available to help campaign for Obama at the end of the month, AFTER he (Clinton) finishes work on his Global Initiative.
Read between the lines. Does this sound as though Obama winning the White House is Clinton's first priority?
mike-473263
How much are the repubs paying you to keep posting that sh*t ?
I am not a member of a political party. I am going to abstain from voting in November. I call it like I see it.
mike-473263,
Actually McCain is still losing. Check out the state by state polls and he's still quite behind.
Yeah!! I still love Wild Bill!! I hope he's right!!
From Bill Clinton's to God ears, lol. Go Bill!!!
What's obama doing in New York? Shouldn't he be on the Texas Gulf Coast calming the roiling seas?
You do remember the date don't you.
Where does this whole idea come from that Barak called himself messiah?
psimon
Who are you asking?
Yes I remember the date. I also remember an agreement that this day would not be used for campaining, but this photo-op is just another way son of goat-herder plays the system isn't it? So why doesn't he do something productive for once (other than stapling papers on phone poles), and fill some sandbags?
I thought you wanted him at the Texas gulf coast? Make up your mind.
Not over it, I see you can't follow a cognitive thought. That' explains your defense of obama, so let me make it simple for your two brain cells. It's Texas that needs the sandbags, not the sandbagging of the campain trail in NYC!
I also remember an agreement that this day would not be used for campaining,
Oh, but it was okay for Palin to be on CBS tonight giving her first interview. Hypocrisy, thy name is republican.
Palin? Palin? When did Sarah, the Governor of Alaska, lead the ticket to be President? I thought it was an agreement between obama and Senator McCain.
A chicken in every pot!
Thank you,
You made me laugh this morning,
"Calm the sees"
But honestly,
Now that we have the Jesus Obama our worries are over (or are they?)
Bor,
Well one concern I have is Jesus fed the masses with God's help and obama plans to use taxpayers. Another thing that I can't shake is what happened to Christians when they were invited into the Roman Coliseum. Will this happen to the obamanoids?
I wonder if the "Obama will win" statement is just "prop up strong talk" or if indeed because he was or is still such a political magician he for lack of a better term... can just tell. Because he is so good at what he does, did he run the numbers and predict future numbers to come up with this conclusion? I'm just curios.
I doubt it. No matter how bitter Bill is that Hillary didn't get elected, at some point he has to swallow his ego for the good of the country, pull out all of the stops to ensure that the psychotic Straussians (neocons) don't get elected, and purposely start WWIII.
For people who despise each other, Obama and the Clintons like to have these secret behind the door conversations. HMMM!! Clinton also predicted his wife would win, so I don't put much faith in his foresight or predictions. The Clintons mouths may be saying yes but how much is believable.
Well then vote for OBAMA and make those predictions real.
Welllll what else is Clinton going to say? Obama has no chance, vote McCain?
Rachet up those expectations Bill.
Two cokeheads are scarier than one.
And this is all he could get from Clinton. From Bill Clinton to President of the United States in one big poll drop!
What else he s'posed to say?
I failed my wife.
I like putting mediocre, subpar interns in the face of all Americans and letting them know that not only do I lack judgment, I lack taste and standards.
>>BLESS YOU BILL!! - GO OBAMA / BIDEN !!- A VOTE FOR AMERICA!!
How 'bout this...
"PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON WILL LEAVE OFFICE WITH THE LONGEST BOOM IN US HISTORY STILL INTACT.— MR CLINTON ALSO LEAVES THE LEGACY OF A HUGE AND GROWING BUDGET SURPLUS, the product of years of bitter battles between Republicans and Democrats._— During the eight years of [his] presidency, the economy expanded by 50% in real terms, and BY THE END OF HIS TENURE THE US HAD A GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT OF $10,000BN - ONE QUARTER OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ECONOMIC OUTPUT.__— The booming US economy has brought economic benefits right across the income spectrum.
The unemployment rate has dropped by half, to 4%, a 40-year-low, while the economy has created some 15 million jobs. THE BOOMING ECONOMY AND STRICT CONTROLS OVER GOVERNMENT SPENDING HAS MEANT THAT MR CLINTON ALSO LEAVES OFFICE WITH THE PUBLIC FINANCES IN THEIR STRONGEST SHAPE FOR DECADES. _
The Office of Management and Budget is projecting a surplus of $5,000bn over the next 10 years, ENOUGH TO PAY OFF THE ENTIRE FEDERAL DEBT AND FUND SOCIAL SECURITY, THE STATE PENSION SCHEME, FOR SEVERAL MORE DECADES. ___But that position has been reached after a long political struggle."
-(Democrat) Bill Clinton's Economic Legacy
By BBC News Online's Steve Schifferes
Monday, 15 January, 2001, 12:47 GMT
________________________________
.
Bill Clinton didn't do all of this alone, but he knew how to mobilize America with REAL solutions. McBush has failed to improve Americans lives & WE'RE $407 BILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT.
Both Obama and McCain have acknowledged former president Clinton's economic prowess.
NOW former president Clinton asked OBAMA to keep him company.
You can best believe there is a REAL effort underway to turn around this McBUSH $407 BILLION SINKHOLE.
We can't afford to waist anymore time squandering our resources, our future.
We have too big of a mess to clean up!
.
___________________________________
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN ! Vote FOR AMERICA !
FOR AMERICAN WORKERS FOR AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE FOR REBUILDING AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE
You can thank the bad ass republican congress that saved his ass starting from 94 after the housing scandals.
sunny side - if you really do your homework you'll find that bill Clinton did next to nothing for our economy he simply kicked back and enjoyed the policies that Ronald Reagan and the first bush put in place in the late eighties and early 90's many people choose to ignore that fact but its a matter of doing some serious personal investigation of the truth and not just dem' or Conservative spin. i love this country and i hope someday we have better choice than 3 career politicians running for president. and believe it or not obama is just more politics as usual too.
he simply kicked back and enjoyed the policies that Ronald Reagan and the first bush put in place in the late eighties
Still sticking to "trickle-down economics", eh?
It's actually those policies that tee'd us up for where we are now.
Brian, Reagan put us deep into debt. We enjoyed a recession during his Presidency. He championed overspending and indulgence. One of his first acts was to have the solar panels that had been put on the roof of the White House by Jimmy Carter removed. He is the most overrated President in our history. He put us deep into debt, he increased the size of government and he ignored our dependence on foreign oil. Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with the sunny days we enjoyed during the Clinton years.
douglasq-you must be another that's afraid to do some homework ,and just repeats the same old lib talking points . trickle down maybe . but at least it trickled back to the American people and not the government. but i know the truth is a very hard pill to swallow. the record will still show Reagan was the best president we've had in 40 to 50 years.and Clinton is our biggest failure.
Umm, the Reagan administration set us up for the biggest blowback in the history of our country. The CIA under Reagan armed and trained the Mujahadeen. The Mujahadeen trained a rich boy named Osama Bin Ladin. Osama Bin Ladin then financed the 9/11 attacks.
I'm not saying Reagan is directly responsible for the attacks. I'm saying that the GOP tends to get very single minded (the Cold War in the case of Reagan) and not think about the consequences of their actions.
This is also true of Bush and Iraq.
If you add Iran-Contra, you then get a president willing to arm anyone without thinking how it might play out.
Oh wait, then there's the propping up of murderous regimes all over South America. Hmm, could that be why so many are leaning left now? Could the governments that are so vexing us now be a reaction to our interference during the Reagan years?
There are so many of us who recognize the power of Bill Clinton's endorsement of Obama...it's only a gesture, but it surely can't help. We'll all vote for Barack notwithstanding!
As myself and I know many feel the same,very proud of Governor Napolitano for her work in Arizona.But the best is she stands for B.Obama and how he will lead our country.I'm always pleased when I see her speak for him.I'm proud of her because she knows the truths about McCain and says so.I'm just one of many middle class people in America living in Arizona,my home.
Not only should McCain not be President,he should not be sentor for Arizona.No respect for this man.
The Hope for us all is to elect B.Obama as our next President of the United States of America.
God Bless him.God Bless our Nation.
Come on Americans get out and vote for OBAMA
And Bill is going to charge Obama $500,000 per day, as a consultant, or do you think he does it for free.
He still has the $30 millions deficit for Hillary campaign.
Do you want Obama to use your money for Bill?
What happened to Obama calling Bill a racist?
This Obama is good; he will do anything to win.
There was only $11.5m or so in debt from Hillary's campaign.
Still a lot, but not $30m.
"I predict that Senator Obama will win and win pretty handily," he said.
From this quote I conclude the following:
Bill Clinton is into fortune telling.
Bill Clinton is a prophet.
Bill Clinton would like to be a Vegas oddsmaker.
or, the ticket is getting very worried and has watched The Secret and are trying to BELIEVE despite evidence to the contrary.
DaRrO: Love your conclusions!
It is obvious that the Clintons will do anything to stay in the spot light. One troubling part is that these are the same people who claimed that Obama was not/is not ready to be president. So are they only thinking about their egos that they are looking to jeopardize our country? could they be saying, yes we know Obama is not ready in any way shape or form to run the country but we'll endorse him anyway as long as we are invited to the white house?
God, we are in trouble!
When you say "God we are in trouble", who are you referring to? Are you an Obama supporter. It is difficult to tell.
You and the country will be in much greater trouble if McCain/Palin fool the American people with their lies and distract them from the issues. THE MESS WE ARE NOW IN FROM PEOPLE LIKE THEM!!!!
darkwood-the recession was leftovers from the carter era, the solar panels no longer worked properly.but of course who would admit that. hmmm overspending and indulgence sounds like people had more of their own money to spend.yeah that sounds awful. not to mention I was in the U.S.ARMY. under both reagan and clinton can say clinton did absolutely nothing for us millatarily . but what would you expect from a draft dodging adulterer.
Voting for Obama is like voting for Castro! If Obama wins there will be an uprising of militias
You sound like the typical Racist you are!!!
How in any way shape or form is that racist?
Any speak against voting for obama is code for racism. Didn't you know that Neo?
Damn, I forgot about that :p
It's good to see them together. Clinton did great things for the US during his two terms and I hope the Obama and Clinton talk extensively, especially about how Clinton brought us from debt to surplus.
I hereby predict that Obama will win and I'm offering $100 bets to takers.
McCain shot himself in the foot big time with the Palin choice that's consumed his campaign. By the time the hoopla dies down all he'll have will be the improbable task of convincing anyone with two brain cells that connect that he's change, and also make anyone who's not a right wing partisan forget K-Street, Tom DeLay, Terry Schiavo, the Republicans cheerleading the amazingly disastrous Bush agenda. All while he voted 90% of the time with Bush.
And now that he's thrown all he has at Obama and he's still losing, where else can he go now?
The experience argument was his best chance. But he threw it away for nothing.
olusey-get ready to lose a whole lot of money. because obiden doesn't have a chance.
Want to back that up with cash. I'm one contact author button away.
I paid a lot of taxes under the Clinton Administration but I was propserous. I pay a lot of taxes under the Bush Administration and the value of my dollars are worthless and I am not prospering just maintaining. So if the democrats can adopt Clinton economics Obama definitely hands down because I have one son in college and another going in another two years and need all the breaks I can get.
Obama/Biden 08
oluseye if he shot himself in the foot . that would explain why obama,s been limping ever since .
Oluseye, I'm not a betting woman, but it's up to all of the the Obama supporters to make this happens. Make sure you get your spouse, friends and family out to vote for Obama on 11/4, even if you have to get them there yourself!! We can make Bill Clinton's prediction a reality!!
Bill does it for big money ($500,000 per day), he is not, NOT a Obama supporter.
Make sure you get your spouse, friends and family out to vote for Obama on 11/4, even if you have to get them there yourself!! Walk through the cemetaries and register the headstones, register your pets, make up names! Do whatever it takes, it's not fraud if you're working for the greater good! Learn well from the Chicago-daley playbook! Come-on lemmings, are you with us or a racist? You tell'em april!
Gee, chicken in a pot, I thought that was a Republican tactic. Oh wait, that's removing people from the voting rolls to make sure that they can't vote on Nov 4. It won't work this time.
You guys still using the paper ballots down there? Better start stuffing those boxes. Vote early, vote often! Isn't that the democrat mantra?
No, unfortunately in Fl we let the candidate's brother count the ballots. (GWB's brother was the Gov of FL in 2000)
Well, you go out and do all that recruiting and let me know how that works for ya. I'm just wondering, now that the alleged Bush factor isn't still Governor, who's gonna get the blame on Nov. 5, Gov. Crist? He is a wascally Republican too!
Well, I hope Crist is not sly as old Jebediah. But you never know. Things could get kind of crazy if some Repubs think that they're going to lose. And hopefully, I won't have to tell you, you'll already know on 11/5!! Now please, let me continue with my cheerleading!
Rah Rah sis boom Obama!!
boy they really look like good buddies together don't they? slick cigar willy and the self-proclaimed great one...the intersection of those two massive egos must have been painful...
mr. obama looked pretty put off in the video footage of this get together...no one was asking him any questions...
if willy has predicted that obama will win handily, then the obama supporters - including his band of negative vicious bloggers - can relax now...and take a vacation from the internet for the rest of the campaign....
i mean there's no way mccain can win now...right??
It is still time to join the winning team.
Come over and support the Mavericks team.
Don't waist your money on Obama, he is now spending it on Bill Clinton.
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