Bill Clinton angry he can't give keynote address about himself

Bill Clinton's anger simmers on eve of convention speech: Friends Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, August 26, 2008

DENVER - The complaints come in whispers, not shouts.

Bill Clinton is still nursing sore feelings about his wife's defeat, his friends say. He thinks Barack Obama hasn't shown him enough respect. Worse yet, he's angry Obama didn't seriously consider Hillary as his running mate.

Even as Hillary Clinton praised Obama and appealing for healing in a keynote speech Tuesday night at the Democratic national convention, her husband and his confidants continue to pick at the wounds of the party's nasty primary fight.

View Larger Image Bill Clinton has remained largely silent the past few weeks, declining all interview requests ahead of his convention address. But the undercurrent of tension has fuelled - rather than eliminated - the perception that neither the Clintons, nor their supporters, will put their heart into helping Barack Obama become president. Ethan Miller/Getty Images In a series of public statements and private grousings in Denver, several Bill Clinton supporters have made clear the former president's post-primary pique at Obama has yet to completely subside.

"There is still work to do on the Bill Clinton front," Howard Wolfson, who served as Hillary's communications director, wrote this week. "He feels like the Obama campaign ran against and systematically dismissed his administration's accomplishments. And he feels like he was painted as a racist during the primary process."

Another Clinton confidant complained to The Politico, "There is a lot Obama could have done to unify the party, and basically he hasn't lifted a finger."

The declarations of Bill Clinton's discontent come as he prepares to take centre stage at the Democratic convention with his own keynote speech Wednesday. The former president, however, was reportedly unhappy Obama's campaign asked him to speak on national security, instead of talking about his own economic achievements as president.

Through all of this, Bill Clinton himself has remained largely silent, declining all interview requests ahead of his convention address.

But the undercurrent of tension has fuelled - rather than eliminated - the perception that neither the Clintons, nor their supporters, will put their heart into helping Obama become president.

"Bill is playing a very dangerous game," says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "We have seen this Bill Clinton before. He can be very petty, snarky and pouty, and that's exactly what this is."

The drama around Bill Clinton, ironically, comes amid behind-the-scenes efforts by Hillary Clinton for a show of party peace when Democratic delegates formally select Obama as their nominee.  

The two campaigns have reportedly reached an agreement for an abbreviated state-by-state rollcall, allowing some delegations to vote for Hillary before a motion is raised proposing unanimous support for Obama.

The idea has infuriated some of Hillary Clinton's diehard supporters.

"I absolutely want a full rollcall. It's about showing respect to the 18 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton," said Neil Emmons, a Clinton delegate from Dallas.

"A partial rollcall is showing only partial respect."

The ill will between Bill Clinton and Obama began last January during the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, and was triggered when the former president likened the Illinois senator's Iraq policy to a "fairy tale." He further angered Obama's campaign by likening his candidacy to the failed presidential bids in 1984 and 1988 of Jesse Jackson, a candidate with limited appeal beyond the African American community.

Clinton sees it differently. He claimed in April that the Obama campaign "played the race card on me" and fumed: "I don't think I should take any s--t from anybody on that."

In a statement released through his private foundation, Bill Clinton said he "continues to be committed to doing whatever he can" to help Obama win and "looks forward to campaigning" on his behalf.

Joe Lockhart, who served as Bill Clinton's White House press secretary, on Tuesday all the convention talk about his former boss's discontent.

"I have a lot of experience with people talking about what Bill Clinton thinks. And most times they have no idea what he really thinks," Lockhart told Canwest News Service. "So what I would say is watch what he does. Don't watch for people who don't put their name on (their comments) . . . Watch what he says. I think he is going to come here (Wednesday) and make a compelling case about why this election is so important, why the stakes are so high and why the choices are so clear. I think at the end of his speech, it will be very clear his first commitment is making sure that Barack Obama is the president."

Lockhart's remarks notwithstanding, other Bill Clinton loyalists have repeatedly blamed Obama for the ongoing divide between the two men.  

Paul Begala, a former senior adviser to Bill Clinton, last week blasted Obama for not seeking out the former president for advice on choosing his vice presidential running mate.

"If I was going to go to the moon, I'd call Neil Armstrong, he's been there. He's done it," Begala said.

While Clinton supporters accuse Obama of not doing enough to woo Hillary and Bill, Sabato said he believes the Illinois senator has gone out of his way to accommodate them.

For a losing campaign, Hillary and Bill Clinton have been given a remarkable role in Denver. They're grabbing two nights of spotlight on the convention floor, and Hillary's name will be placed into nomination.  

"Obama is at the point where he is starting to look weak," Sabato said.

Obama has sought to downplay reports of bad blood between him and Bill Clinton. Speaking to reporters Monday, Obama said he had called the former president last week and rejected reports his campaign was trying to influence Clinton's speech.

"I said, 'Mr. President, you can say whatever you like,'" Obama said. "It wouldn't make much sense for me to want to edit his remarks."