Clinton says Obama offers a better path forward for America

President Barack Obama offers a better path forward for the country that will promote united values rather than the winner-takes-all mentality of Republicans, former President Bill Clinton told the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night. In a highly anticipated speech before Obama was formally nominated for re-election, Clinton framed the November vote as a choice of what kind of country Americans want. "If you want a winner-take-all, you're-on-your-own society, you should support the Republican ticket," Clinton said. "If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility -- a we're-all-in-this-together society -- you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden." Democratic delegates greeted Clinton as a rock star, interrupting his 48- minute speech with more than a dozen standing ovations. Vice President Joe Biden watched the speech in person from a Time Warner Cable Arena box while Obama joined Clinton afterward on stage,

embracing him as Clinton’s presidential theme song, Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop,” played to a thunderous ovation. But this was Clinton’s night to bask in his new dual role as as his party’s elder statesman and biggest success story. Listening to a message that was part policy wonk lecture and part folksy state fair stem-winder, the audience sat rapt as Clinton rattled off Medicare statistics and laughed when he debunked false Republican campaign claims. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry sometimes,” he said. Frequently ad-libbing from his prepared text, Clinton answered the question that Republicans posed to voters at their convention last week in Tampa: Are you better off than you were four years ago? “Area we want to be ? No. Is the President satisfied? Are we better off than we were when he took office, with an economy in free fall, losing 750,000 jobs a month. The answer is yes.” Clinton said. “I understand the challenge we face. I know many Americans are still angry and frustrated with the economy,” Clinton said, saying it reminded him of 1994 and 1995 during his presidency, when he knew “our policies were working and the economy was growing but most people didn’t feel it yet.” Obama inherited a much “weaker economy than I did,” Clinton said. “No president – not me or any of, my predecessors could have repaired all the damage I just four years.” He barely mentioned GOP nominee Mitt Romney, but dissected his policies, predicting that they would bring a return of trickle-down economics. In one ad lib, he chided GOP Vice President nominee Rep. Paul Ryan for saying that Obama “raided Medicare” of $716 billion. Many nonpartisan fact-checkers have noted that Ryan uses the same amount of Medicare savings in his budget. “It takes some brass to attack a guy for what you did,” Clinton said. In an unusual twist, Republicans praised Clinton in rebutting his speech. “From 20 million new jobs to historic welfare reforms, President Clinton has a record President Obama simply can’t match. Americans deserve a president willing to run on his own accomplishments, and not the record of a predecessor” said Romney spokesperson Amanda Henneberg. A dozen years ago, Clinton was a party pariah in the wake of his sex scandal with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. His Vice President’s Al Gore barely used him as a campaign weapon in Gore’s losing 2000 campaign. Also forgotten are the comments Clinton made during the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and his wife, Secretary of State , Hillary Clinton. At one point, a frustrated Bill Clinton referred to Obama’s surging campaign as a “fairy tale.”