Bill Clinton, Obama set aside rivalry for election

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) — When Bill Clinton takes the Democratic National Convention stage Wednesday to praise President Barack Obama, it will be the most visible step on a path toward reconciliation for two former rivals.

That Obama would choose the former president for such a high-profile speaking spot, and that Clinton would accept, seemed unfathomable in 2008, when the two clashed bitterly during the showdown between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Even though Hillary Clinton now serves as Obama's secretary of state, resentments between the current and former presidents have been slow to ease.

But now, with Obama locked in a tight race with Republican Mitt Romney, the president has embraced Clinton as a political partner in hopes of capturing Clinton's knack for political survival against tough odds.

"President Clinton has an economic record second to none," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said at a briefing Tuesday. "He's a very credible messenger ... he's going to deliver a very compelling speech."

Obama called Clinton in July and asked him to give the speech that would place the president's name in nomination. Clinton accepted enthusiastically, aides to both men said.

The new relationship brings Clinton back to the national political forefront and lends Obama the validation of the Democratic Party's most popular elder statesman.

Clinton stars in an Obama campaign commercial currently running in key battleground states, suggesting that Romney would return the country to George W. Bush-era economic policies while affirming Obama's approach that he says mirrors his own.

"President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up," Clinton says, adding, "That's what happened when I was president."

With the U.S. economic recovery still tepid and unemployment stubbornly high, many voters remember Clinton's tenure as a period of prosperity. The economy added some 22 million new jobs during his two terms in the White House from January 1993 to the start of 2001, and Clinton left office with a balanced federal budget and surplus.

Democrats hope Clinton's support might influence constituencies Obama has struggled to win over.

A recent Fox News poll found a nearly 20-point gap among white voters for the two men. Clinton is viewed favorably by 61 percent of white voters, Obama by 42 percent. Among independents, just 46 percent have a favorable view of Obama, while 64 percent view Clinton favorably.

For his part, Clinton needs Obama to win in November to preserve his own legacy.

"From President Clinton's perspective, if Romney were elected he'd repeal everything Clinton ever did and everything he wants to advance," longtime Clinton adviser Paul Begala said. "He and President Obama share an economic philosophy ferociously focused on the middle class, and he believes Obama has us on the right track."

Begala also serves as senior adviser for Priorities USA Action, an independent group supporting Obama's re-election that has struggled to compete financially with Republican-leaning groups. Clinton did his first event for the group in August. His assistance helped the group raise about $10 million in August, its best monthly haul.

Clinton hasn't always been a model supporter for the Obama campaign.

The former president once praised Romney's "sterling" business credentials at Bain Capital, the private equity firm where Romney amassed a large fortune. The remark contradicted the Obama campaign's effort to paint the Republican nominee as a plutocrat who cares more about generating profits than creating jobs.

Clinton also broke with Obama on tax policy, suggesting that Bush-era tax cuts for higher income earners be extended at least temporarily. Obama has pledged to allow the cuts to expire as a way to cut the federal deficit.