Former President Bill Clinton delivered a speech at the DNC on Wednesday that hailed Kamala Harris “the president of joy,” took aim at Donald Trump‘s age, and resumed the role that former President Barack Obama had assigned to him 12 years ago: Explainer-in-Chief.
“If you vote for this team, if you can get them elected and let them bring in this breath of fresh air, you’ll be proud of it for the rest of your life,” Clinton said of the Harris-Walz ticket. “Your children will be proud of it, your grandchildren will be proud of it.”
Obama first gave Clinton the ‘explainer’ nickname after Clinton delivered a blockbuster convention speech in 2012 that helped get Obama re-elected to the White House. In a way that voters understood, Clinton offered a detailed rebuke of Mitt Romney‘s economic plans—remarks that would become among some of his most memorable, and that Obama would go onto mention repeatedly at campaign stops that election cycle.
“President Clinton made the case in the way that only he can,” Obama told supporters in New Hampshire. “Somebody emailed me after the speech and said, ‘You need to appoint him Secretary of Explaining Stuff.’ I like that.”
And on Wednesday night, his voice somewhat weaker with age, Clinton once again laid out a coming election as a stark contrast between the two parties.
“Every four years, we get to change the requirements for the job,” Clinton said. “Will this president take us backward, forward? Will this president give our kids a brighter future in advance. Will this president bring us together or tear us apart? Will the President increase security and stability and freedom that we enjoy and extended to others as we can we the people we have to make a decision.”
“In 2024, we got a pretty clear choice,” the former president said.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“Clinton is unparalleled at speaking to Americans in ways that are relatable and understate,” veteran Democratic strategist Matt Bennett told Newsweek. “He never tried to soar with his rhetoric.”
Instead, Clinton laid out a simple, moderate case for Harris “framing it in terms that matter to normal people,” Bennett said.
He peppered in several jokes throughout his remarks, poking fun that Harris would beat his presidential record of most time spent at McDonald’s (Harris worked at the fast food chain while studying at Howard University) and noting that “I’m still younger than Donald Trump” (Clinton turned 78 on Monday).Trump, who attacked President Joe Biden ceaselessly over his age, became the oldest candidate in the race after Biden stepped aside.
Clinton even addressed Obama’ moniker for him directly, saying that when it comes to Trump, he was left without words.
A veteran DNC speaker, Clinton has, over four decades, developed a reputation for his ability to simplify complex issues to voters. Despite bombing his convention debut back in 1988, Clinton did just what Harris needed him to do on Wednesday.
“If there is a pivot to the center tonight, Bill Clinton will provide it,” political expert Steve Schier told Newsweek ahead of the speech. “The party has moved left since his time in office. He is an expert rhetorical ‘explainer’ and will try to put Kamala in the mainstream.”
In his 12th convention speech, Clinton argued that Harris was “for the people” while Trump was only focused on “me, myself and I.”
“The next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the ‘I’s,” Clinton said of Trump. “His vendetta, his vengeance, his complaints, his conspiracies.”
In an election that will be end up coming down to seven battleground states, the moderate and independent voters who Clinton spoke to will be critical to a win in November.
Since becoming the nominee, Harris has sharply improved the Democrats 2024 odds among those swing state voters. Although Biden was trailing Trump in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin at the time of his exit from the race, Harris now leads Trump in five of those states, according to 538.
Still, top Democratic strategist David Axelrod has cautioned his party with conflating the polling boost to a surefire victory, saying that as of this week, Trump is still more likely to win the election.
“It’s an electoral college fight,” Axelrod told CNN Monday. “For a Democrat to win to those battleground states, they need to have a significant lead in the electoral college.”
Clinton, as deft a political tactician as Axelrod, acknowledged the wave of enthusiasm that’s washed over Harris’ campaign but cautioned that party not to get overconfident.
“We’ve seen more than one election slip away from us,” he said. “This is a brutal tough business. I want you to be happy. One of the reasons that president to be Harris is doing so well, is that we’re all so happy. But you should never underestimate your adversary and these people are really good at distracting us, at triggering doubt, at triggering buyer’s remorse.”
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis told Politico that Clinton is “one of our party’s most effective messengers” and that it was critical for him “to get back out there to explain why the Harris-Walz ticket’s economic policies will be better for working-class families” in battleground states.
Representative Brendan Boyle also called Clinton “one of the greatest political talents in the history of the Democratic Party,” while former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu described the former president as “the best retail politician in America.”
Governor Kathy Hochul also told the outlet that Clinton had particular appeal among older voters who are hoping to fell a sense of the “golden age of politics” that existed before Trump kicked off his political career nine years ago.
“He’s the master at connecting with voters,” Hochul said. “Not just the Democratic base, but he has the crossover appeal to talk to independents, guys in VFW halls, firemen.”