Bill Clinton, the perennial Comeback Kid of American politics, returned from his sick bed to centre stage on Monday, proving that his ailing, quadruply bypassed heart is still in the fight.
But it was a much thinner, frailer man who took the stage alongside John Kerry in Philadelphia’s Love Park than the vigorous leader who dominated the past American decade. He had come back from the brink of political death many times, but this has been an narrow escape of the real thing.
Backstage, he joked he was ”the healthiest man here”, but barely seven weeks after surgery, he moved more slowly and spoke less forcefully than he used to. For tens of thousands of roaring fans who jammed several city blocks beyond the park, however, all Clinton had to do was speak. It was more rock concert than political rally.
”I can’t stop looking at him. I’ve been looking at him for 10 years on my refrigerator,” Malyn Rothstein, a diehard fan from nearby Doylestown, said. She had woken up at 3.30am to get in line for the lunchtime show. ”He looks kind of thin, but he’s still got a spring in his step and he’s still got a mischievous look in his eye,” In-Jee Lee, another breathless female supporter, insisted.
The former president-superstar, the man the smitten political press used to call Elvis, drew strength from the crowd’s adoration. Love Park, in the shadow of the white-stone city hall, was an apt venue, and the love was clearly mutual. ”If this isn’t good for my heart, I don’t know what is,” he said.
The speech was short, and dwelt largely on the facts and figures of Pennsylvania’s prosperity under his administration and its subsequent decline in the Bush era. But it was also a warm endorsement of Senator Kerry as the man to bring the good times back.
”From time to time, I’ve been called the Comeback Kid. In eight days, John Kerry is going to make America the comeback country,” Clinton said. In a clear sign that the top reaches of the Democratic party are ready for a legal fight on and after polling day, Clinton warned that the Republicans would try to suppress the Democratic vote on November 2.
”It worked so well in Florida, they thought they’d try it elsewhere,” he said, but he urged the Democratic faithful to overcome any obstacles between them and the ballot box.
Citing ”one of Clinton’s rules of politics”, he declared: ”If one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other’s trying to get you to think; if one is appealing to your fears, and the other is appealing to your hopes — it seems to me you ought to vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.”
The speech lasted barely quarter of an hour, and his voice strained to reach the furthest reaches of Love Park. But it was a forgiving crowd. If anything, the newly muted Clinton helped Kerry, who was next at the microphone. The candidate, 60, came across as vigorous and dynamic by comparison to the 58-year-old former president, symbolising the passing of a baton. Kerry hammered away at the ”incompetence” of the administration, highlighting the high explosives left unguarded and stolen in Iraq. ”George W Bush has failed the test as commander-in-chief,” he thundered.
The differences in style between the two men were never so evident. Kerry is a brass band, full of pomp and circumstance, sometimes inspiring but marching along to a predictable beat. Clinton is a mixture of jazz and the blues. Smaller and weaker he may be, but he still has the capacity to make a crowd feel he is taking them into his confidence.
He conjured up out of the cold Philadelphia air some of the Democratic party’s old-time religion that the true believers had been sorely missing. That matters particularly to black Americans, who retain a special affection for him, but cannot summon up the same enthusiasm for his successor.
As president, Clinton used to draw over 90% of the black vote. A recent poll suggested as many as 18% of African Americans were backing Bush, a dangerous trend for Kerry. Clinton’s principal task will be to bring them back into the Democratic fold and make them feel it is worth voting.
”President Clinton at least tries his best for us. We’re hoping that Kerry will fill that niche,” Jonathan Foxx said.
Clinton flew to Florida on Monday night to do just that. Mike McCurry, his former spokesperson working for Kerry, said Clinton’s skills would be used sparingly.
”He’s going to Florida and we’ve got him down to do three or four other things. After that it will be on the sufferance of the doctors,” he said.
The Democrats have such faith in the former president that if Kerry loses next Tuesday, Clinton’s ill-timed heart problems will be seen as one of the great what-ifs of the campaign. If he wins, his Lazarus-like return will no doubt be interpreted as the saving grace. – Guardian Unlimited Â