September 6, 2012

"I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

That's a line that jumped out at me when I was live-blogging Bill Clinton's speech last night, and in the comments here, Yashu probes the disrespect the older President insinuated toward the younger:
... Clinton is one of the masters of backstabbing with the utmost civility.

That Clinton line tonight: "I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

Is it just me, or is that not a huge (yet concealed just enough) dis of Obama?

"Cool on the outside" makes me think of the superficiality of Obama's "cool" facade, persona, performance, and the superficiality of "coolness" as a criterion for POTUS.

Clinton frames Obama's "coolness" as an external quality -- only skin deep.

To speak of a quality "on the outside" makes one question what's "on the inside"-- the opposition of "outside" and "inside" suggests the possibility of discordance (between external appearance/ inner essence) and thus deception, illusion... even emptiness. What's on the inside of Obama?

Someone "who burns for America on the inside"! But this is exactly what Obama is infamously suspected to not feel: he may have an American birth certificate, but everything about Obama leads one to question how American he is "on the inside." Everything about his life story and his rhetoric (cf. his international speeches) suggests that Obama is a cosmopolitan internationalist, who holds much of what "America" and "Americans" stand for in contempt.

So in this double compliment I see a double insult! Prima facie, Clinton's sentence doubly recommends Obama for the nomination/ presidency, but in fact it doubly reminds us of reasons why Obama is unfit for the nomination/ presidency.

And (this is the kicker) those very reasons recommend Romney: someone who is so very not cool (thus, doesn't rely on this superficial quality "on the outside" as part of his appeal or his case for election); and someone who (much more believably than Obama) might be said to "burn for America on the inside."
Burning on the inside sounds like sex to me, and that sound is amplified when it's coming out of Bill Clinton's mouth. Clinton's story is permeated with hidden — but not hidden enough! — sexual matters. So if Bill Clinton says that Barack Obama is outwardly cool but he burns on the inside for America, I'm getting the message that Obama is behaving like a gentleman but he really wants to screw us. (And obviously, Obama-haters will say he's been screwing us for 4 years.)

102 comments:

KJE said...

I get the sense that the DNC blew their wad early by trotting out Bill Clinton. Not that they really need a convention anyway; the incumbant has it in the bag.

Matt Sablan said...

"There's an ad, talking about [how] the president is too cool, [asking] is he too cool? And there's this music that reminds me of, you know, some of the blaxploitation films from the 70s playing in the background, him with his sunglasses," Rye said. "And to me it was just very racially-charged. They weren't asking if Bush was too cool, but, yet, people say that that's the number one person they'd love to have a beer with. So, if that's not cool I dont know what is.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/cbc-staff-opposition-to-obama-is-racist/article/1342346#.UEip_yKmqUk

The Crack Emcee said...

"I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

I don't listen to liars.

Ooops! I thought we were still talking about Instapundit,...

Brian Brown said...

Cool? Not so much:

The president called three times to speak with Boehner about his latest offer, according to Woodward. But the speaker didn't return the president's phone call for most of an agonizing day, in what Woodward calls a "monumental communications lapse" between two of the most powerful men in the country.

When Boehner finally did call back, he jettisoned the entire deal. Obama lost his famous cool, according to Woodward, with a "flash of pure fury" coming from the president; one staffer in the room said Obama gripped the phone so tightly he thought he would break it.

"He was spewing coals," Boehner told Woodward, in what is described as a borderline "presidential tirade."


As you see, he has no executive experience or understanding of how to negotiate.

And what is this "Obama's famous cool" bullshit anyway?

Who thinks he's cool?
He's a freakin dork.

tacotaco said...

The level of desperation Althouse has turned to in finding new ways to criticize Democrats is hilarious. It's not cute or insightful, it's ridiculous. I pity her students who must pretend to respect her "intellect."

TWM said...

It was a great speech. For Hillary. And a good one for Romney.

Actually Clinton did the best he could while balancing his personal distaste for Obama, his own ego, his aspirations for Hillary, and the train-wreck which has been the last four years.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Burning on the inside. There's an ointment for that.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

...or a suppository. Whatever you prefer.

edutcher said...

It's one of those lines that can mean whatever you want it to.

Willie is the sociopath who defines the term.

Jay said...

And what is this "Obama's famous cool" bullshit anyway?

Who thinks he's cool?
He's a freakin dork.


Don't you know?

He's cool because he's black. That's what all da yoots thought last time.

Choom apparently has lightened considerably in the intervening 4 years.

The Crack Emcee said...

"I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

But we need a man who will beat the living crap out of somebody.

Did I mention Glenn Reynolds is a liar?

Carry on,...

garage mahal said...

."Burning on the inside sounds like sex to me, and that sound is amplified when it's coming out of Bill Clinton's mouth

Bill Clinton does have the effect on women.

Shouting Thomas said...

Two different styles of fighting over the pussy.

Both underhanded. Both indirect.

Romney's "uncool" sin is that he is direct about his desires and his methods.

He wanted to be the patriarch and he succeeded in siring a large and prosperous family.

Note the animosity of our resident juvenile hipster female, Lindsey, who tries to characterize Romney of having "small balls." Then look at the picture of Romney's extended family. Romney stands accused of using his balls for their intended purpose.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for women to vote.

jr565 said...

Is he "cool" or is he "cold" or "aloof", "humorless" "thin skinned"

Roger J. said...

Didnt listen to Bubba's speech--I agree with Yashu's analysis--Clinton is a master of triangulation, and his praise of Mr Obama was triangulation personified. As my friend Edutcher noted above, the line could mean anything you wanted it to mean.

Paddy O said...

"I pity her students"

You, a law professor!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That was a cool observation yashu.

MayBee said...

"Burning on the inside" sounds like a urinary tract infection.

MayBee said...

Yashu rocks my world.

TWM said...

"Bill Clinton does have the effect on women."

Which ones. The one he did in the Oval Office who was barely out of her teens or the one he groped in Arkansas?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I do remember thinking there was something phony about the compliment.

Mark O said...

Just a week ago or so, the word "cool" when applied to Obama was racist.

Shouting Thomas said...

If Clinton was the "first black president," then doesn't Obama deserve a demotion?

He's our "second black president."

So, it's OK to criticise and oppose him after all.

Anonymous said...

Yashu is one of the best commenters here. However, in this instance I think he's reaching.

Clinton may have been clumsy with the cool/burning thing, but I can't construe it as a "backstabbing compliment." I thought Clinton was trying to reassure Americans put off by Obama's iciness that Obama really does care about America.

"My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes."
-- Soyen Shaku, the first Zen master to teach in America

jr565 said...

Crack wrote:
I don't listen to liars.

Ooops! I thought we were still talking about Instapundit,...


It depends on what instapundit is saying about lucid dreaming. Is he ascribing some paranormal powers to lucid dreaming, or is he viewing lucid dreaming the way some neurologists view lucid dreaming?

Mark O said...

Bill's always been good with pathetic women.

AllenS said...

I was disappointed in Clinton's speech because after all of these years I was hoping that he'd finally tell me what the definition of is, is.

ricpic said...

Althouse has sex on the brain!

Shouting Thomas said...

Clinton just wants all the pussy to himself.

He was supposed to be the white guy with a black dick in his pants.

AllenS said...

"I want to nominate a man who burns for America on the inside, but who's cool on the outside."

Wouldn't that have been better?


TWM said...

"Althouse has sex on the brain!"

And Meade just smiles . . .

Joe Schmoe said...

Burning on the inside sounds like sex to me

Or the deleterious result of a night of sex with a Bangkok hooker.

Anonymous said...

Is it just me, or is that not a huge (yet concealed just enough) dis of Obama?

It is just him (or Her).

You are really getting desperate. First, you couldn't find anything to criticize about the First Lady's speech, so instead you just dredged up an old, poor speech to criticize.

Now you are claiming that Clinton was making sexual references. It's carrot sticks and onion rings all over again.

You really need to get your mind out of the gutter

Larry J said...

Wasn't it just a few months ago that we were told that using the word "cool" to describe Obama was racist?

I think that some of the language that’s used is— I’ll give you an example. There’s an ad, talking about [how] the president is too cool, [asking] is he too cool? And there’s this music that reminds me of, you know, some of the blaxploitation films from the 70s playing in the background, him with his sunglasses. And to me it was just very racially-charged. They weren’t asking if Bush was too cool….

But I just think that even cool, the term cool, could in some ways be deemed racial….


If you keep hearing dog whistles, it must mean you're a dog. Just sayin'.

bbkingfish said...

Q: "Is it just me, or is that not a huge (yet concealed just enough) dis of Obama?"

A: It's just you.

KLDAVIS said...

Some other things Bill Clinton could have taken the time to explain in better detail last night:

The cronyism hinted at in countless deals made by this administration laid completely bare by Solyndra.

How a startling mixture of hubris and incompetence got a Federal Agent killed in Fast & Furious, and how this administration is stonewalling the investigation.

An analysis of which party really wants to put our medical decisions into the hands of bureaucrats.

machine said...

"You got to admit, it takes some brass to attack a guy for what you did."

The Crack Emcee said...

jr565,

It depends on what instapundit is saying about lucid dreaming. Is he ascribing some paranormal powers to lucid dreaming, or is he viewing lucid dreaming the way some neurologists view lucid dreaming?

A billion commenters and I have to get the jackasses.

Lordy, Lordy, Glory Be,...

TWM said...

"Q: "Is it just me, or is that not a huge (yet concealed just enough) dis of Obama?""

Of course it was, but you have to be willing to even consider the possibility before you see it.

Bruce Hayden said...

I was more struck by Slick Willie's claim that Obama burned for America. I would suggest rather that he wanted to burn America down.

Nevertheless, he never has really shown this. He doesn't do all the American things that we expect of our Presidents, or at least, not as automatically or as often. Things like wearing American flags on his lapel.

But, this just highlights that Obama is not really an American. Sure, he most likely has American citizenship, and may indeed be Constitutionally qualified to be President. BUT, he doesn't appear to have our sensibilities. Instead, he seems to have those of a 3rd world anti-colonialist or anti-imperialist, such as, coincidentally, his fathers. Things like eating dogs growing up, instead of having them as pets. Deferring to Islam, but attacking Catholicism and Judaism. And, maybe most egregiously, he doesn't seem to understand American Exceptionalism.

In other words, Obama may burn for America, but we are left wondering what part of America, or which Americans, he is burning for.

Shouting Thomas said...

When you going to get around to Liz Warren's Elmer Gantry demagoguery, Althouse?

That woman is the lowest lying scum I've seen in American politics in decades!

Clinton is honest in comparison.

Tim said...

I missed the speech, intentionally.

I watched the NFL season opener instead.

I would have done so anyway, but is there anyone in America who still listens to Bill Clinton without trying to parse his meaning, without trying to figure out where he's lying, without the sense of being buffaloed and bamboozled?

Who is that naive, that lacking in self-respect?

"Julia," that's who.

Anyone else?

Allie?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

"I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

But I was President from 1992 to 2000, so I can't run again!

caplight45 said...

It seems quite racist to me, the stereotypical cool on the outside black man who has fire/passion on the inside. Makes him sound like Shaft.


Who's the black Pres-i dent
That's a sex machine to all the Dems?
'BAM!
Ya damn right!

Who's the man that risks his Nation
Just to build his reputation?
'BAM!
Can you dig it?

Who's the cat that can't be found
When there's problems all around?
'BAM!
Right On!

They say this cat 'BAM is a bad mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I'm talkin' 'bout 'BAM!
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!

He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but Bill Ay-ers.
'BAM-A!

MadisonMan said...

A good politician -- and I think most people who aren't blinded by Clinton hatred -- will agree that Clinton is an excellent politician (don't you have to be one to become President) is pretty masterful at saying something that can be construed many different ways.

Plausible deniability.

Talking for 50 minutes though. Not much you can deny about that!

dreams said...

"Yashu probes the disrespect the older President insinuated toward the younger:"


I Agree with Yashu. I've always thought Obama was un-American and anti-American. Un-American because he doesn't understand our heritage due his birth, the circumstances of his childhood and his early environment so therefore doesn't share our heritage and anti-American because I believe he is and has his adult life been actively working to hurt our country.

TWM said...

"A good politician -- and I think most people who aren't blinded by Clinton hatred"

There may have been many who hated him back then - I wasn't one of them - but man they sure love him now. What's even more amazing is the number of Dems who are tweeting about how much they wish he could run again.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

..and I think most people who aren't blinded by Clinton hatred..

I'm blinded by Clinton hatred but thats why I wear my Althousian specs.

Joe Schmoe said...

I think Clinton is a great communicator, and his assertion can be interpreted a few different ways (as he well knows and likely intends). One is the direct way, which is him saying "here's what I know about Barack, and you should too. He burns inside for America (although his wife doesn't) (oops my bad; couldn't help slipping that in)." Another way could be Yashu's interpretation, which is sort of a backhanded compliment. I offer a third, which is a public exhortation by Clinton, sort of free advice, as to how Obama needs to approach the next couple of months. At least how Barack needs the voters to view him. He needs to be less lofty and more passionate on the stump. Like Bill.

Sal said...

Burning on the inside sounds like sex to me, and that sound is amplified when it's coming out of Bill Clinton's mouth.

Why don't you just beg him to be "The One"?

jr565 said...

Crack Emcee wrote:

jr565,

It depends on what instapundit is saying about lucid dreaming. Is he ascribing some paranormal powers to lucid dreaming, or is he viewing lucid dreaming the way some neurologists view lucid dreaming?

A billion commenters and I have to get the jackasses.

Lordy, Lordy, Glory Be,...

Please define lucid dreamning? To me lucid dreaming simply means being consciously aware that you're dreaming. And I cerrtainly believe that. I've had dreams where I talk to myYself and know that I'm Dreaming and to a certain extent can control the dream. But I can't say that it's a conscious thing that I can plan for. It's simply happened. Nor do I ascribe any definitive meaning to dreams or that they are psychic dreams, or that they effect your life outside of the dream. So again,it depends on what's Instapundit is saying about lucid dreaming before I can say whether he is a quack or not. And a lot. Of strange stuff can happen while dreaming.
I've gotten phone calls from people, don't fully wake up and had a conversation with them while still sleeping, which beame part of the dream. And people who sleep walk have actually gotten in their cars and driven all while sleeping. There are a lot of things that can happen While you sleep. The idea that you might even be able to more consciously control your dream state is not impossible (though I'll admit if there is a way to do so, I'm not aware of it. Tough that doesn't mean that others aren't).
Again, what do you see the problem with
Ucid dreaming to be. Then les look at what instapundit says about lucid dreaming. You may not even be arguing over the same things.

And even if he does believe it and you don't, does tht make him a liar? If he believes it, he may be misguided, but it doesn't sound like a lie.

AF said...

"Burning on the inside sounds like sex to me, and that sound is amplified when it's coming out of Bill Clinton's mouth. Clinton's story is permeated with hidden — but not hidden enough! — sexual matters. So if Bill Clinton says that Barack Obama is outwardly cool but he burns on the inside for America, I'm getting the message that Obama is behaving like a gentleman but he really wants to screw us."

I think this reaction is limited to movement conservatives with advanced degrees in the humanities and too much time on their hands.

Bryan C said...

"Burning on the inside" sounds like a urinary tract infection.

She had learned too late that Obama was a cold and selfish lover. A man who'd leave you to wake up alone in a rented room, a shiny campaign button and a crumpled stack of contraceptive vouchers left casually on the nightstand. Alone, again, with the mingled scent of borrowed cigarettes, stale aftershave, Gyne-lotrimin, and regret.

Julia wept.

shiloh said...

lol if only mittens had a "backstabber" like Bubba.

This thread is hilarious!

Bryan C said...

"A good politician -- and I think most people who aren't blinded by Clinton hatred -- will agree that Clinton is an excellent politician (don't you have to be one to become President) is pretty masterful at saying something that can be construed many different ways."

Clinton is an excellent politician. He understood how to work with people he disagreed with for the greater good, and he respected his office enough to limit his lawbreaking activities to personal foibles.

Obama is merely an excellent campaigner, with none of those skills and none of that discretion. That alone should not have been enough to make him President. It shouldn't have been, but it was.

bagoh20 said...

I don't know if it was intended as a slight, but it hit me as sarcasm as soon as he said it. The idea that Obama of all people burned for anything outside himself seemed silly when you know how much time he has spent golfing and campaigning. It's really all he does. I don't know how he even gets it all in, even without doing anything else. His schedule of not working for the country is exhausting.

traditionalguy said...

The Obama Rulership has always proclaimed its intention to fundamentally transform the America we love and defend.

And their actions are speaking louder than mere words. We are truly in a civil war with the Obama Gang which is lurking around with a Propagandist Media helping them act as if they are American reformers rather than our deadly enemy fifth column.

edutcher said...

MadisonMan said...

A good politician -- and I think most people who aren't blinded by Clinton hatred -- will agree that Clinton is an excellent politician (don't you have to be one to become President) is pretty masterful at saying something that can be construed many different ways.

No, Dick Morris was the genius.

Think about how Zero ran rings around him in '08.

The Crack Emcee said...

Speaking of burning for America,...

machine said...

"This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama."--GOP operative Alex Castellanos.

jr565 said...

Speaking of blame for the economic state, let's not forget, and especially let's not have dems forget that almost all of the things that were blamed in a knee jerk fashion on republicans occurred under Clinton

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/06/the-clinton-recession.html

Some gall.

machine said...

"Dick Morris was the genius."


hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah....


Thanks for the laughs...

edutcher said...

machine said...

"This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama."--GOP operative Alex Castellanos.

We're supposed to bow to the opinion of some sidesaddle RINO on CNN?

Try again. The little animal raised this last night.

Kos must figure if enough trolls put it up, it will demoralize the Right.

William said...

Obama is inactive to the point of dormancy on the outside. He runs cool because he doesn't run. On the inside, there's a whole lot of seething going on.

machine said...

He is a hell of a lot brighter than Dick Morris..


hahahahahahahahahahahahah....genius..hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa....

edutcher said...

If he were, we'd be talking about President Clinton's fitness for a second term.

Matt Sablan said...

See, this is why pundits are silly. The election hasn't happened, and they think a speech most people didn't sit through, by someone on neither ticket, has some how sealed a deal.

Mick said...

"I want a man who wants to burn America". There fixed it.

bagoh20 said...

Dems like Machine are just hoping for that magic "moment" that will re-elect Obama. How childishly desperate is that? They cling to every little possibility, like someone playing the lottery with their last dollar.

A four-year record sure isn't going to do it, but maybe some serendipity will occur. Notice that they don't even expect it to be him that will do it. But, maybe he will pull Excalibur out of Clinton's ass. Maybe a can of spinach will get knocked into his reach and he will open it with his golf club just in time. Grow up.

machine said...

There is no magic moment....just electoral math...

Matt Sablan said...

How is electoral math is like chickens?

Rusty said...

tacotaco said...
The level of desperation Althouse has turned to in finding new ways to criticize Democrats is hilarious. It's not cute or insightful, it's ridiculous. I pity her students who must pretend to respect her "intellect.


You miss the whole point of the subject. You miss the whole point of this blog.

Your opinion was asked on whether Bill Clinton was sincere or was he disrespecting the president.

You've firmly established your intellect.

bagoh20 said...

Math is exactly Obama problem:

$16 tillion,
8.3%
$55,470 - $50,964
23 million
etc.

edutcher said...

bagoh20 said...

Dems like Machine are just hoping for that magic "moment" that will re-elect Obama. How childishly desperate is that? They cling to every little possibility, like someone playing the lottery with their last dollar.

If Gallup is right, their last dollar will be spent tomorrow.

bagoh20 said...

And if you are wondering what a tillion is it's a trillion... til tomorrow when it goes up.

Anonymous said...

I bet he learned to backstab so beautifully from the Brits in his Rhodes Scholar years in Oxford.

Btw, isn't attaching "cool" to Obama racist? Old Bill proved to the Dems that he was a racist.

"burns for America", a thinly veiled allusion that black men would burn America if Obama wasn't re-elected? Or Obama has a burning hatred for America? Or Obama wants to burn America? Or was he saying America was "once burned", should be "twice shy"? Or to remind us, the KKK rides in the middle of the night with burning crosses?

Anonymous said...

"This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama."--GOP operative Alex Castellanos.

That's just one man's opinion in the heat of one moment, but make no mistake Bill Clinton gave a powerful speech, however prolonged, that will resonate with Democrats and some independents.

I wouldn't say it re-elected Obama, but it did give his campaign renewed life.

Matt said...

You're out of you mind. That speech was an awesome endorsement for Obama [and probably for Clinton himself]. Nonetheless it shows the Democrats have likable former presidents who can still help there party.

Bryan C said...

"GOP operative Alex Castellanos."

No! Sweet Jesus! We've lost GOP operative Alex Castellanos! Game over, man! GAME. OVER.

Who?

cubanbob said...

Madman you are correct. Bill is the consummate politician, in other words a top notch bullshiter. It's not for nothing he is a disbarred attorney and a convicted perjurer.

What is amazing is his brazenness. Every economic success of his administration was the result of a republican congress raming it down his throat yet he takes credit for it so shamelessly.

I don't hate Clinton. On the contrary the guy is a force of nature. You can't help liking him. He is a bubba Wille Brown. And like Willie he can learn. If the time was ripe for a black liberal democrat president who is capable of seeing reality when he must and adjust himself according coupled with real world experience in governing then the first black democrat president should have been Willie Brown.

Crack I don't know what your beef is with Glen Reynolds. All he does is what Drudge does, an aggregator of blogs and news sites. So he throws in a few snarky remarks, it's not like he is the NYT making shit up to fit the narrative.

bagoh20 said...

" ...Democrats have likable former presidents..."

Look what he did to the women in his life, from cheating on and embarrassing his wife like no man has ever done before, to using underlings like sex slaves to physically assaulting and then destroying others he happened to come in contact with along the way. He may be politically adept, but "likable" is the willful ignorance that his toadies rely on to assuage their hypocrisy. He is a one-man war on women.

bagoh20 said...

Compare all the sexual mistakes made by other politicians since Clinton was in office, and how they were destroyed by them. Clinton did far worse than any of them, and that's up to him, but if you forgive him, then shut up about anyone else. Until there is a dead girl lying in the oval office, he's the champ.

cubanbob said...

Speaking of burning on the inside what Bill was saying was that Barry the joker is one of those guys who just wants to see the world burn. First Carter gives us Ayatollah Khomenei and now Obama gives us in Egypt Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Marvelous. Simply marvelous. Not to mention snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory in Iraq.
But then again he is a left wing democrat. To be expected.

cubanbob said...

Machine I don't understand your animus towards Dick Morris. If not for Morris getting Clinton to move the center he would have been a one term president. At least Bill learned from his failures like getting the republicans controlling congress in 94 after campaigning right and then governing left for the first two years. You would think Obama would have learned something from Clinton but no, he is too blinded by his idealogy and bubble to do so. He like you will be baffled on November 7th. And he like you won't understand why.

jungatheart said...

It's the swing vote, stupid.

Synova said...

I didn't see it as a dig. And I thought it went over really well.

My biased opinion of just how well that line played is that it went over so very well because it allowed an audience who bases right and wrong and virtue on *emotion* to believe that their guy was a seething cauldron of passion... on the inside.

Cedarford said...

Yashu is good because SHE departs from the usual boilerplate left or conservative ideological opinion delivery to sometimes capture an unusually perceptive read most people miss.
That then becomes a forehead slap for many "Why didn't I see that!!"

And good on Althouse/Mead to scan comments and be able to extract some pearls from the pigshit on the threads!

machine said...

"The $16 trillion debt is all Obama's fault. He should've gone back in time and stopped Bush from invading Iraq for absolutely no reason."

wyo sis said...

After a 50 minute apology (and obfuscations and lies) about Obama's record Clinton closes with a statement about hollowness and uncool.

Classic Clinton. You can't really say he said those things, but you can't really say he didn't either. It all depends on what your definition of empty suit is.

I love his repeated pleas for us to listen to him and take his word for things. As if his word was worth anything. Completely self-absorbed.

Cedarford said...

Truth is, Clinton evoked the deepest fear of Obama, past his incompetence and arrogant belief in his own persona and demagoguery substituting for being a real leader.

That fear is that the cool persona is just a mask.
That underneath he burns for America
But WHAT KIND OF AMERICA????

And quite a few now believe that burning is for a socialist, green America where government decides all matters of import, right down to each persons lives...aside from the Sacred Right of Abortion. That destroying America's standard of living (on Green Dream phantoms) is not as important as how good an opinion Russia or Egypt has of us..And Obama sees himself as messianic, and the measure of his greatness is how fully he and his Base can transform America from the wrong and misguided nation it was for 235 years, Pre-Black Messiah.

As for Romney - I think he is truly motivated by a desire to do a good job. He is limited by a Base nearly as brainless as Obamas...true believers that 12 years of tax cuts under Bush-Obama created jobs, and the wealth of the Top 1% does trickledown...if not to them or any other conservative fire-breather, than someone else.
Romney would love to jettison wrong-headed ideology. He just wants a turnaround and if he had a truly free hand, would do whatever worked to make the US prosperous. I suspect if Dems were willing to give up a host of regs and overly generous entitlements, Romney would raise the taxes on multimillionaires and hedge funds back to where they were when Clinton and a pre-DeLay, Hastert Congress existed - in a heartbeat.

Even his religious depth and ID as a Mormon works for Romney. He wants to give his Faith a great boost by showing America how well a Mormon can do. Disraeli did that for Jews. JFK opened the door for Catholics like Reagan.



Anonymous said...

"I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside."

How many here read Clinton's intro as backstabbing? Why?

Yashu wanders off into the weeds about Obama being a "cosmopolitan internationalist" and Clinton's remark as a dig in that direction.

I find that (a) too complicated and (b) forgetting the target audience: Democrats.

Democrats have great affection for Clinton and for Obama. They have no reason to be looking for hidden disrespect. They have nothing against "cosmopolitan internationalists" either.

Clinton did a bang-up job for Obama last night, while also, of course, getting a long turn in the limelight. There was speculation that Clinton would backstab Obama, but if so, I didn't notice it. If "cool/burning" is the best evidence, there's not much of a case.

yashu said...

(Aw shucks. Thank you!)

wyo sis said...

creely 23
We read it as backstabbing because we've been listening to Clinton for 20 years and we know that's what he does.

Even if only 10% of the people listening got the idea of a backstabbing it won't take long for the other 90% to hear what the 10% think.

kentuckyliz said...

Burn...America

Don't you picture an Arab wrapped in a black and white barbwire print scarf, rioting in the streets and burning and American flag?

Because Americs is the great Satan.

That's a dog whistle for Obama is a Muslim.

Anonymous said...

machine said...
"The $16 trillion debt is all Obama's fault. He should've gone back in time and stopped Bush from invading Iraq for absolutely no reason."

Have you heard, the Iraq war was Obama/Biden's greatest achievement? Biden said that before they settled down in the WH.

Have you heard, we're out of Iraq?

Have you heard the war did not cause us 16 trillions of greenish papers?

Have you heard Saddam was dead, the unnecessary war precipitated the so-called Arab Spring which Obama had claimed credits until it turned into an Arab Winter?

Have you spent the last four years in a cave mesmerized by that Hope poster, the poster that is fading in front of you?

wyo sis said...

The very moment he stopped speaking pundits started noting that Clinton did exactly what he said no president could do. He "fixed the economy."
This could not have been an outcome Clinton didn't anticipate.

bgates said...

To put my own spin on the obvious joke:

When I hear Bill Clinton talk about somebody burning on the inside, I figure he's talking about something Sandra Fluke would want a Jesuit to pay for.

jungatheart said...

What popped into my mind was STD burning.

But it can also evoke this:

"Burn Baby Burn can refer to:
a slogan attributed to the 1960's R&B disc jockey Magnificent Montague, which became associated with the 1965 Watts Riots in Los Angeles."

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

The Clenis™ Strikes Again!

And could anyone expect Ann Althouse to resist the call?
~

Synova said...

"The $16 trillion debt is all Obama's fault. He should've gone back in time and stopped Bush from invading Iraq for absolutely no reason."

Or at least stopped Hillary from voting for it.

Anonymous said...

When I read it I thought "but he doesn't burn for America on the inside," he must know that.

So yeah, an cloaked insult. He *wants* to nominate that man.

AlanKH said...


Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm living for giving the devil his due

And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you