Pejman Yousefzadeh spots Bill Clinton at the presidential podium on Friday and waxing nostalgic for the seemingly carefree days of the mid-1990s, begins to hum a slightly paraphrase version of Clinton’s signature 1991 campaign song, “Don’t Stop Thinking About . . . Yesterday?”
OK, let’s do just that, because with Bill’s return to center stage, we can now place the 2008 campaign and the first year of the Obama presidency into a certain amount of perspective.
Then: Obama’s speeches “enmesh you in a grander moment, as if history has stopped flowing passively by, and, just for an instant, contracted around you, made you aware of its presence, and your role in it. ”
NOW: Obama’s problem: Not enough “theatrics,” Eleanor Clift of Newsweek claims.
Rock star momentum is tough to recapture when the Zeitgeist passes you by.
Then: Bill and Hillary and even the Democratic voters who supported them are smeared as racists by fellow Democrats because they’re not the Messiah.
NOW: Obama told to F** Off by his fellow Democrats — “Help Me Bubba-Wan, You’re My Only Hope.”
Then: Obama’s “WhiteHouse.gov Plays Media Critic: Calls Krauthammer’s Washington Post Column ‘Wholly Inaccurate.’”
NOW: “During his impromptu press conference in the White House briefing room Friday, former President Bill Clinton favorably referred to comments Charles Krauthammer made at the Washington Post earlier in the day.”
Then: Joe Biden seen as example of Seinfeldian opposite theory, akin to George Costanza in the New York Yankees’ front office, a comparatively plodding backbencher tapped to join a political juggernaut.
NOW: Joe Biden seen as example of Seinfeldian opposite theory, the comparatively grown-up voice of sanity and reason in an otherwise hapless trainwreck of an administration. (Update: And whose role in said administration may be growing.)
Then: “We Are All Socialists Now,” Newsweek declares, as Obama takes office.
NOW: What are you, trapped in 1935? Walter Russell Mead replies.
Then: Faced with global financial crisis, John McCain puts his campaign on hold, never recovers momentum.
NOW: Faced with personal existential crisis, Barack Obama puts his presidency on hold, never…
…Well, we’ll know soon enough how this one works out.
Then: Former Air America hostess Randi Rhodes disgustingly refers to Hillary as a “big f***ing whore.”
NOW: Bill Clinton remains one serious media whore, as Pejman writes:
I don’t imagine that Bill Clinton would shed a lot of tears in the event that Barack Obama lost in 2012, except, perhaps, to the extent that such a loss might prematurely end his wife’s own public service career. But that’s no excuse for engaging in a public relations exercise with the ostensible motive of helping President Obama on Capitol Hill, but which (and let’s not pretend that Bill Clinton didn’t know this) had the effect of making Bill Clinton look titanic, and made Barack Obama look small. When the two of them shared the same stage, it was easy to forget that President Obama was even there, as Bill Clinton held forth. A former President ought not to make a successor look so bad in public, especially when that successor is of the former President’s own party.
Payback is a Hillary, Barry.
Speaking of which:
Then: Obama K.O.s Hillary during December 2007 debate:
The atmosphere tensed up briefly when Obama was asked what new foreign policies he could offer with a staff of so many ex-Clinton advisers.
Read the exchange from AP:
Hillary Clinton laughed out loud, and said with a smile on her face, “I’m looking forward to hearing that.”
Obama, also smiling, waited for the laughter to die down before saying, “Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.”
NOW: “Obama Names Bill Clinton to Presidential Post,” as life finally catches up with a remarkably prescient Iowahawk.
What I got out of this episode is that the Clinton who should be President is Bill. Lets face it Hillary is boring, partisan and divisive, and so is Barack. Bill seems to understand the presidency. He has no problem answering questions. He doesn’t have a thin skin. He can relate to conservatives. In fact I think he would have no problem working with the GOP to knock a trillion dollars off the budget (something that has hit the critical stage). Why wait till 2013? Just make Bill the proxy president right now.
And being afew years older and hopefully a little less frisky, maybe Bill could kind of get after that terrorism thing this time.
WILL THE REAL PRESIDENT PLEASE STAND UP!!!!
Mr “I Am The President” please remain seated
Obama proves over and over that he is not and never has been qualified to lead anything…much less the United States. Golf, Basketball with the pro’s, Taxpayer Paid Travel, Taxpayer Paid Vacations, a White House full of non Senate confirmed Czars and ability to read from a telepromter is what he considers being President entails. It’s nothing more than an ego-trip for him…so whats a little party, after all it’s probably the last star studded one he’ll have. What I wonder is…what is Clinton getting for all his support?? One thing is certain..it is NOT free!
I have serious reservations about his Harvard education..did he flunk out of there as well,was it covered up by Soros’s money? is the reason transcripts are hidden because they don’t match up to the claims, could that be why nobody remembers him??? I’ve had mixed opinions about his birth qualification for President…but too many things just don’t add up and I’m beginning to question EVERYTHING about him.
Great compilation, Ed!
*laughing all the wayyyyyyyyy*
Indeed, thanks for a great summary.
I couldn’t help thinking, as I saw the press conference where Obama ducked out to help SWMBO, that I had just seen the nation’s first African American president hand the torch back the the nation’s first Black president.
YEAH..
.Mr.”I won” is really Mr. “I cant’ handle it”, no matter how much money and power you send my way. Bill is in a class unto himself and Obama can’t touch him and he waxed Obama, unfortunately for us.
There is a difference in wanting your political party to do good, and wanting your party to win despite the fact what they are doing is destroying the republic you live in
If the new republicans cave, there should be hell to pay and
Presdient Pelosi will be pissed if things go bad south..
The whole episode was just too weird. I don’t recollect seeing anything like it in my lifetime. In reference to the above article’s then and nows, the only two words I can use to describe the whole Obama situation are hubris and nemesis. And the nemesis is reaching out to the whole left wing of the Democrat Party. The new incoming Republican legislators better be on guard. They are not immune.
“Yo,Bill…you wanna stand here and tell the American people about my tax cut extension plan?…they ain’t listening to me no mo…and I gotta go party or Michelle is gonna bust my other lip…I’m outta here”
~Barokeydoke Hubris Obozo~
Comment of the day, right there!
love it :]
Hum, does this mean that at some point we can expect President Obama, the Clinton understudy, saying something in the future like: Let me be perfectly clear, I did not jump that intern’s bones in the Oval Office, on duty serving the people of the United States while doing her employee evaluation. We did the dirty at Camp David, after hours, so F off. Yo, Fox, I’m the commander in chief, numero uno, el hefe, the man, the candy man, and the candy man can. Oh well, there’s always hope at watching a rerun of the National Organization for Women squirm and change the subject to, say, the absence of female golf players at the Augusta Masters rather than the absence of female soldiers at Tora Bora Afghanistan. It would humanize Michelle more, a sort of Hillary moment, watching her blaming the sordid episode on caucasian domestic cultural imperialism and the white intern’s skin privileged flirting.
A week ago we were talking about the chaos within the Democrat Party. Imagine what it like now! Axelrod and his team have always been apprehensive of their champion’s narcism, thin skin, and petulance, and now their nightmares have come to pass. You can bet it was not Chairman Bho’s idea to have Clinton speak for him. Then he walks off because Mom wants to talk to him, reassuring Bill that he doesn’t have worry because Barry’s boys will take care of him. And good ole Billy Jeff doesn’t miss a beat – doesn’t even say “So long – enjoy the party.” he just acts as if he hadn’t even noticed him. lost in the euphoria of being back in the saddle at a press conference again, with reporters who really liked him.
It is hard to say who’s dumber. Clinton had to know what he was doing: the White House is never going to ask him back, for any reason. Bho’s having temper tantrums, accusing his staff of betrayal, telling them who’s in charge, and likely to do something even more disastrous. Nervous Democrats will become even more reluctant to be identified with a a “leader” dedicated to demonstrating his ineffectiveness and incompetence.
The Chicago Alinsky Alliance brought this, knowingly, upon themselves and on their party. But they also brought it upon the entire nation. Anyone who thinks that Obama can come out of this debacle with any degree of acceptance in the role of Party Leader or Commander-in-Chief, and coast to candidacy in 012 is delusional.
Disagree. As the patina of affirmative action and media adulation further rubs off Barry Dunham, and his incompetence becomes even more manifest, the administration’s need for Clinton becomes ever more desperate. The final two years of Dunham’s term will probably see a de facto duumvirate of Biden and Clinton controlling affairs, with Dunham playing a marginal role even in ceremony; merely the occasional reference to remind us that he is nominally still President.
Joe Biden seen as example of Seinfeldian opposite theory, the comparatively grown-up voice of sanity and reason in an otherwise hapless trainwreck of an administration. (Update: And whose role in said administration may be growing.)
These statements worry me. I am of the opinion that Obama is a one term president. I have no idea how he could step up at this point. So, if the horror known as Biden is growing in importance and picking up the slack, is he going ot come to the fore? Of course, considering Obama just gave the tacit nod to the Clinton name, probably not. Perhaps this is more Obama realizing he is done, and trying to help out Hillary as some form of guilt complex?
Guilt complex? I respectfully disagree. I think Obama is a psychopath. I’d rather have Dexter as President, at least Dexter has a code.
Charlie,
I agree. Obama does not feel guilt.
My take is that Obama couldn’t (wouldn’t?) come out and talk about the tax cut referrendum, so he asked Bill to do it. Bill was already there….probably coaching him on how NOT to lose his presidency.
I honestly do not think Obama wants the job any longer (it’s toooo hard!), but he’s stuck with it, so HOW to appear to be doing it without actually doing it? Ask someone who did that! Bill Clinton (oh, he was there – not partying like O, but he was busy with “other activities”!!!).
All this was apparent about HUSSEIN the Lying Mohammedan Bogus Potus long long before the American electorate in Black Racism, left wing moonbattery, Lame Stream Media sycophancy and collusion and well just downright stupidity elected him. Where’s the BC BO and while your at it all your other HIDDEN documents the hiding of which any sane electorate would have seen as a perfect example of what you really are and a red flag.
Did you guys see who was waiting offstage when Bill took over the podium? Pic:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/12/open-thread-866.html
Its hard to understand the results when one only looks at the initial conditions.
Not good.
Tuesday’s press conference showed Obama is mad about having to triangulate, mad at the people eho made him triangulate and mad at the people he thinks both didn’t work hard enough to keep him from having to triangulate and didn’t appreciate how gosh-darn hard he was working not to have to triangulate.
Friday’s press conference was pretty much an admission that Tuesday’s event was a disaster, so why not bring the ol’ Triangulator himself out to run things for a while, if (in Obama’s mind) that’s what these damned unappreciative moderates want.
You can almost see Obama thinking to himself “There! I’ve @&!$%#*@&! triangulated. Now will you swing voters just get back on my side so I can go back to being president on cruise control.” He’s hoping that this agreement on the Bush tax cuts, and then maybe some minor bone early next year, like keeping Gitmo open, will be all the triangulation he has to do to win the moderate swing voters back, because he hates having to work with Republicans and he hates that his core supporters are starting to hate him. It doesn’t bode well for the next two years, since it took Clinton until the summer of ’96 to sign welfare reform, because that’s what it took to convince the moderates he really was serious about this triangulation thing.
Funny!
Though I’ve characterized the Clinton-stand-in episode as the political event of the century, the acid test for left-liberalism in America will be the extended reaction of the Main Stream Media. So far, they’ve been uncharacteristically reserved about this event — they’ve reported it without commenting on it — but the shock is still quite fresh.
If the MSM are still “in the tank” for Obama and his forces, there will be a series of progressively more sympathetic commentaries on the Clinton-pinch-hit appearance. I’ll be watching closely, as it was the media that got Obama elected, mainly by suppressing (or shouting down) anything detrimental that was known or said about him.
Obama a guaranteed one-termer? We can hope. But there are still unplayed cards in the Left’s deck. Watch the media.
WHAT DID OBAMA DO TO GET BILL TO DEFEND THE COMPROMISE DEAL?
Click my name for the answer.
Appollo,
More like, “What did Obama PROMISE TO GIVE BILL”…. in exchange for his help….
Vis a vis Biden, let’s take the simple interpretation: The Post reporter sourced the story from someone in Biden’s office, so the story slant makes Biden look more important than he really is.
Yes — I can definitely see Joe Biden celebrating “Festivus.”
I mean, how could he possibly not swoon to the the ritual “airing of grievances”?
….so NOW can we see the birth certificate?
Mr. Driscoll,
A good list of the administrations negatives. Enjoyed your take. Can we now look forward at the next press conferences or press releases as some kind of off the cuff amateur theater?
I believe this shows that little Barry could not handle that 3am phone call. Just like Hillary told the American people! There are people who will defend Obama no matter what he does. Do you all remember Jones Town, they drank the kool-aid too!Then we have some people saying that other people do not have the experience to be president even though everyone who ran against Obama had more experience than Obama had or has!
When you fill an empty suit with bullshit, it’s still an empty suit and bullshit. In the pseudonym dictionary, it can be found under politician!