Former President Bill Clinton says that as far as Republicans go he likes GOP 2012 hopefuls Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney. Clinton made his comments on the presidential field at the Aspen Ideas Festival Saturday evening. While Clinton still thinks President Obama will win reelection in 2012, he commented that the former Massachusetts governor is fronting a much stronger campaign than he did in 2008, and Michele Bachmann is looking like “a better candidate” than he thought. Clinton remarked:
“But, y’know, I like the governors: I like Huntsman and Romney. Romney’s a MUCH better candidate than he was last time, because he’s not apologizing for signing the health-care bill. He’s got another creative way of saying we oughta repeal Obamacare, but that’s prob’ly the price of gettin’ the nomination.“Huntsman hasn’t said what he’s for yet, but I just kinda like him. [laughter] He LOOKS authentic – he looks like a real guy. [laughter] I mean, a real human being. I like his family, I like his kind of iconoclastic way. And he was a pretty good governor. And he wasn’t a right-wing ideologue.“Bachmann’s been a better candidate than I THOUGHT she’d be, and I don’t agree with her on nearly anything. But she’s got a very compelling personal story, and she gotta lot of juice, and she turns [on] a lot of those anti-government crowd.”
Clinton went on to comment that he thought President Obama would win reelection based off things like the President’s handling of the auto industry crisis, record on national security, and that “He took steps which avoided a depression.” Clinton:
“It’s not like he doesn’t have a story to tell. I also think he’s done a good job in trying to harmonize America’s differences, trying to widen the circle of opportunity. I think he’s got a good record on gay rights. I think he’s got a good record on trying to promote diversity in a positive way.”
Interesting comments. Is “a good record on gay rights” pushing the removal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” policy which you installed? Great story.
While Clinton’s support of the fellow Democrat and current President is to be expected, it will be interesting to see if his folksy comments on three Republican presidential candidates Saturday along with similar statements made in an ABC News interview last Thursday will have any effect on the GOP Presidential primary campaign.
With some commentators already questioning if Jon Huntsman is too moderate to be elected by today’s GOP, will Clinton’s kind words be hurled against the former Utah governor by his fellow 2012 hopefuls? Will conservatives who already have an issue with Mitt Romeny’s “health care thing” become further frustrated by Clinton’s approval?
How do you think Bill Clinton’s comments will be used, if at all, as the Republican primary race tightens in coming months?
Bill Clinton: Obama should Ignore Congress on Debt and Invoke the 14th Amendment
Former Democratic President Bill Clinton has come out swinging at Congress, telling The National Memo’s Joe Conason that he would take decisive action if no debt deal is reached by the August 2 deadline. Clinton says that if he were in Obama’s situation, he‘d invoke the Fourteenth Amendment to raise America’s debt ceiling “without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me.”
Clinton, who came out strongly against Republicans in an exclusive interview with The National Memo on Monday, said:
“I think the Constitution is clear and I think this idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for [expenditures] it has appropriated is crazy.[Raising the ceiling] is necessary to pay for appropriations already made…so you can’t say, ‘Well, we won the last election and we didn’t vote for some of that stuff, so we’re going to throw the whole country’s credit into arrears.”
Clinton faced his own debt battles as president during two government shut downs. Back then, though, he didn’t consider utilizing the Fourteenth Amendment, because the debt ceiling was not brought in as part of the overall debate. The National Memo has more:
According to Clinton, the Gingrich Republicans thought about that tactic [using the debt ceiling] before rejecting it — and Treasury officials who served under Clinton commissioned legal research on the president’s power to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval. While some legal scholars believe the Fourteenth Amendment requires Congress to fund the debt that results from its appropriations, and therefore empowers the president to raise the debt ceiling, others vehemently disagree.
The American Spectator takes issue with Clinton’s opinion on the matter, writing that the Fourteenth Amendment doe not call Congress to borrow monies whenever needed. Rather, the amendment instructs Congress to pay for what it spends:
Meaning it can choose to cut spending, raise taxes, or print more currency. Arguing as Clinton does would also license the president to print more currency in order to pay the bills, effectively running down the value of the dollar.It‘s like saying that once you’ve maxed out all your credit cards, you have no choice but to transfer the balance to a new credit card.
Some say Clinton isn’t the only prominent individual speaking out in support of unilateral use of the Fourteenth Amendment. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has also allegedly advocated its use. CNN Money has more:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has heightened the debate over the debt ceiling extension in recent weeks by implying that the President could simply push through an extension of the debt ceiling based on an interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
While some believe Geithner has been clear in advocating for the president’s use of the Fourteenth Amendment, others — including legal representation at the Treasury, itself — claim this isn’t the case. In a release published on July 8, 2011, a lawyer for the Treasure Department denied this allegation, writing:
Secretary Geithner has never argued that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows the President to disregard the statutory debt limit.
According to the Treasury’s legal counsel, Geithner’s words thus far on the matter have been intended to compel Congress to take action on the debt limit. President Obama has avoided direct questioning on the matter, though, making it difficult to conclude exactly where he stands and what he will do if a plan is not reached.
Despite Clinton’s claims that Obama should invoke the Fourteenth Amendment if needed, he tells Conason that he believes the situation will be remedied by August 2. The former president says that it looks as though an agreement will be made, which he calls “smart.”
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