The reason why Bill Clinton couldn't just say, "Yes, Obama is ready to be President." [View All]

[endthewar]

By now most have heard or seen Bill Clinton's ABC News interview where he is asked if Obama is ready to be President and he doesn't just give a 'yes' answer. Most of the braindead media is sharing the same brain and pushing the talking point that Bill Clinton is a bitter man who is having second thoughts about campaigning for Obama. If you really look into this issue, I think that the reason is very clear. He's aware that people have been videotaping him campaigning for Hillary during the primary season.

He knows that he just can't say "yes" because the follow-up question somebody would ask him would be about specific things that he said earlier this year, some statements as little as two months ago. He knows that his statements are on the record and that he spent a lot of time saying things that at the bare minimum implied that Obama is not ready to be President. That is why he was forced to give such a nuanced, qualified answer to what seemed like a simple question. Personally, I thought he handled it as best as could be expected.

There are some corollary questions for Hillary Clinton as well, which is one of the biggest reasons why she will most likely not be picked for the V.P. spot. For example, if Hillary is the V.P., everybody knows that one of the questions at the Vice Presidential Debate will be, "Is Obama ready to be Commander-in-Chief?" Obviously she can't say "no", but if she says "yes" then the obvious follow-up would be to play the video of her saying that Obama was NOT ready to be Commander-in-Chief just a couple of months ago. The next follow-up would be to ask what has he magically done within the past couple of months that all of a sudden pushed him over the Commander-in-Chief threshold Hillary referred to earlier. If the moderator is really smarmy, then they ask something like, "Are you lying now, were you lying then, or are you saying "yes" right now just to get Obama elected?" If I'm an Obama advisor, I don't want to invite this kind of line of questioning about Obama's readiness to be President in this manner. He needs someone who can make a credible case with a straight "yes" answer.

Moral of the story for politicians: Don't say something in February that you don't want to defend in September.