Obama enlists Clinton to woo America's middle classes

Bill Clinton will tell struggling Americans nostalgic for his presidency that Barack Obama is still the man to rebuild the middle class, while Mitt Romney would hand ruinous tax cuts to the rich.

In a speech tonight (Wednesday) closing the second day of the Democratic National Convention, the former president will warn voters that Mr Romney would repeat the economic policies that "got us in trouble in the first place".

"President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up," he said in a campaign video billed by aides as a preview of his remarks. "It only works if there is a strong middle class. That's what happened when I was president. We need to keep going with his plan."

Mr Clinton is expected to contrast Mr Obama's priorities of education and training with Mr Romney's pledge to cut income taxes and reverse the regulation of the financial sector since the 2008 economic crisis.

The prominence given to his speech, which is to be delivered in the slot typically reserved for the vice-president, sharply highlights the weakness of Mr Obama's position as he fights to keep his job. Four years after winning the White House by campaigning as the anti-Clinton, Mr Obama has been forced to enlist his predecessor to style him as the enthusiastic heir to Clintonism.

Mr Obama has worked to repair the damage to their relationship caused by his defeat of the former president's wife, Hillary, in 2008's bitter party primary, by seeking his counsel over rounds of golf.

William Galston, a senior White House adviser to Mr Clinton, said Mr Obama's move was sensible. "He understands that what he was doing four years ago was more pertinent to the challenges of 2008," Mr Galston told The Daily Telegraph. "Like any successful politician, he has made some adjustments."

He said his former boss would seek to tie Mr Obama's plans to his "popular years of peace and prosperity" and try to enthuse the white, working-class voters that Mr Obama "has a hard time with".

Mr Clinton's appearance contrasts with the decision of the unpopular former president George W. Bush, and his deputy Dick Cheney, to stay away from last week's Republican convention.

Jennifer Psaki, a spokesman for Mr Obama, said yesterday that Mr Clinton "can speak directly from experience" about "the choice middle-class families in this country are facing".

Mr Obama's party gathers as America continues to reel from an unemployment crisis that has left 23?million people jobless or seeking more work. He enjoys only a narrow lead in opinion polls over Mr Romney in most key battleground states, and the pair are virtually tied in national polls. Pressed in an interview yesterday to grade his own performance on the economy, the president said "incomplete", prompting derision from Republicans. Paul Ryan, their vice-presidential nominee, lambasted Mr Obama for "asking people just to be patient with him" while unemployment remained stuck higher than eight per cent.

"Four years into a presidency and it's incomplete?" Mr Ryan said on CBS. "The kind of recession we had, we should be bouncing out of it, creating jobs. We're not creating jobs at near the pace we could."

Mr Obama blames obstructionist tactics by Republicans in Congress for thwarting plans to boost the economy.

His turn to Mr Clinton comes despite repeated slip-ups by the former president during the campaign season. In May he said Mr Romney, who made $250?million (pounds 160?million) in private equity, had a "sterling business career" just as the Obama campaign was painting him as a vulture capitalist.

Jeffrey Lord, a historian and former aide to Ronald Reagan, said the only precedent for Mr Clinton's role in recent memory was the speech given by Mr Reagan as a "private citizen" to the 1992 Republican convention, as his successor, George HW Bush, struggled to defend his presidency against Mr Clinton. "But even Reagan couldn't save Bush - and I'm not sure Clinton can save Obama," Mr Lord told The Daily Telegraph.


In a speech tonight (Wednesday) closing the second day of the Democratic National Convention, the former president will warn voters that Mr Romney would repeat the economic policies that "got us in trouble in the first place".

"President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up," he said in a campaign video billed by aides as a preview of his remarks. "It only works if there is a strong middle class. That's what happened when I was president. We need to keep going with his plan."

Mr Clinton is expected to contrast Mr Obama's priorities of education and training with Mr Romney's pledge to cut income taxes and reverse the regulation of the financial sector since the 2008 economic crisis.

The prominence given to his speech, which is to be delivered in the slot typically reserved for the vice-president, sharply highlights the weakness of Mr Obama's position as he fights to keep his job. Four years after winning the White House by campaigning as the anti-Clinton, Mr Obama has been forced to enlist his predecessor to style him as the enthusiastic heir to Clintonism.

Mr Obama has worked to repair the damage to their relationship caused by his defeat of the former president's wife, Hillary, in 2008's bitter party primary, by seeking his counsel over rounds of golf.

William Galston, a senior White House adviser to Mr Clinton, said Mr Obama's move was sensible. "He understands that what he was doing four years ago was more pertinent to the challenges of 2008," Mr Galston told The Daily Telegraph. "Like any successful politician, he has made some adjustments."

He said his former boss would seek to tie Mr Obama's plans to his "popular years of peace and prosperity" and try to enthuse the white, working-class voters that Mr Obama "has a hard time with".

Mr Clinton's appearance contrasts with the decision of the unpopular former president George W. Bush, and his deputy Dick Cheney, to stay away from last week's Republican convention.

Jennifer Psaki, a spokesman for Mr Obama, said yesterday that Mr Clinton "can speak directly from experience" about "the choice middle-class families in this country are facing".

Mr Obama's party gathers as America continues to reel from an unemployment crisis that has left 23?million people jobless or seeking more work. He enjoys only a narrow lead in opinion polls over Mr Romney in most key battleground states, and the pair are virtually tied in national polls. Pressed in an interview yesterday to grade his own performance on the economy, the president said "incomplete", prompting derision from Republicans. Paul Ryan, their vice-presidential nominee, lambasted Mr Obama for "asking people just to be patient with him" while unemployment remained stuck higher than eight per cent.

"Four years into a presidency and it's incomplete?" Mr Ryan said on CBS. "The kind of recession we had, we should be bouncing out of it, creating jobs. We're not creating jobs at near the pace we could."

Mr Obama blames obstructionist tactics by Republicans in Congress for thwarting plans to boost the economy.

His turn to Mr Clinton comes despite repeated slip-ups by the former president during the campaign season. In May he said Mr Romney, who made $250?million (pounds 160?million) in private equity, had a "sterling business career" just as the Obama campaign was painting him as a vulture capitalist.

Jeffrey Lord, a historian and former aide to Ronald Reagan, said the only precedent for Mr Clinton's role in recent memory was the speech given by Mr Reagan as a "private citizen" to the 1992 Republican convention, as his successor, George HW Bush, struggled to defend his presidency against Mr Clinton. "But even Reagan couldn't save Bush - and I'm not sure Clinton can save Obama," Mr Lord told The Daily Telegraph.