In January 2008, Bill Clinton went off-script as his wife’s presidential campaign was going off the rails.
At an event in Durham, N.H., shortly after Hillary Clinton’s disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Bill Clinton let his frustrations be known. The press was giving Barack Obama a free pass, he said, and not asking tough questions about his position on the war in Iraq.
“Give me a break,” the former president fumed. “This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”
Amid ferocious blowback, Clinton later sought to clarify that he didn’t mean Obama’s bid for president itself was a fairy tale. But the damage was done — and it only got worse. In South Carolina, Bill Clinton drew flak for saying Obama’s campaign was “playing the race card on me.”
As Hillary Clinton begins to move toward another presidential campaign in 2016, Democrats are wondering: Which version of Bill Clinton will campaign alongside her?
In 1992, as the self-proclaimed “comeback kid” during his first presidential campaign, Bill Clinton was enigmatic, folksy and funny. In 2008, he was the opposite: bitter and defensive as Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president unraveled.
In 2012, Bill Clinton won back his reputation as a key player for Democrats on the campaign trail. As many voters were frustrated with President Obama, Clinton ignited a spark at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., with a rousing 45-minute speech.
Shortly afterward, when Mitt Romney’s campaign released an ad highlighting the “fairy tale” remark, it seemed like ancient history.
In 2014, Bill Clinton has been a charismatic surrogate for some Democratic candidates, including Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, a longtime family friend.
And Bill Clinton still commands attention from donors big and small. His first event for Grimes in Louisville this year brought in $1 million. Meantime, he has brought in many millions for the Clinton Foundation.
But this is not the glad-handing Bill Clinton of yesteryear. At a surprise stop in Georgia to campaign with Democrat Michelle Nunn at a restaurant, Clinton didn’t eat a bite, even out of courtesy. At Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry in Indianola, Iowa, this month, Clinton said he opted for a veggie burger.
The steak fry afforded the most recent preview of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton together on the campaign trail and their potential dynamic in 2016.
There was little concern that Bill Clinton would steal the spotlight. At this event, flooded with volunteers from the group Ready for Hillary, his wife was the star of the show.
However, Hillary and Bill Clinton quickly fell back into their stereotypical campaign trail roles. Hillary Clinton was on message and disciplined, speaking with the press only for a few minutes. Bill Clinton couldn’t be pulled away from reporters, and once he took to the stage, he meandered and pontificated as much as ever.
And while Hillary Clinton’s speech made headlines, Bill Clinton’s speech was the one that had the crowd laughing and rapt.
“What do you think? Do you like my shirt?” Bill Clinton hammed, to applause for him and his red-and-white gingham. “I was kind of worried I looked like a tablecloth in a diner, but she said it was cool, so I’m feeling good.”
Bill Clinton praised Harkin, and he railed against Republican candidates.
He didn’t talk about his wife’s future, and he isn’t talking yet. But people will be watching when he does.
