Mixed signals from Team Clinton

Lots of interesting news coming from Denver appearances by Bill Clinton and sold Clinton pal Ed Rendell mere hours before Hillary will take the stage at the Pepsi Center to forcefully make the case to her supporters that a win for John McCain would be disastrous and that they must back Obama in the election. The Obama campaign is obviously not pleased with the mixed signals.

Bill Clinton managed to stir the pot in Denver earlier this afternoon when he made some off-the-cuff public remarks that were apparently aimed at Barack Obama  - and not in a positive way. It was a jab at an anonymous candidate that just happened to match Clinton’s criticism of the Dem nominee back in the primary campaign.

(Bold added by PB)

Bill Clinton appeared to undermine Sen. Barack Obama again Tuesday. 

The former president, speaking in Denver, posed a hypothetical question in which he seemed to suggest that that the Democratic Party was making a mistake in choosing Obama as its presidential nominee.

He said: “Suppose for example you’re a voter. And you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom would you vote?”

Then, perhaps mindful of how his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken, Clinton added after a pause: “This has nothing to do with what’s going on now.“

The former President is a very smart man and an expert participant in the great game of politics. This comment was by no means accidental or aimed at some hypothetical match-up. Besides, it describes the current tiff between the two campaigns perfectly.

Bill is getting very close to the edge of unacceptable razzing - and the Obama campaign is privately steamed at these antics.

But he may just be setting himself up to roll into the convention hall on Wednesday and  come out swinging against McCain, giving it his best shot in order to be perceived as some sort of savior for Obama if he ends up winning in November. Obama can’t “deliver”? Bill Clinton thinks he can step in and do the job in only one night…

One more public display of concern over Obama’s campaign from the Clinton camp came from Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

Rendell is a very gregarious man and a good friend of the Clintons. He apparently doesn’t want a similar relationship with Obama considering he compared the Dem nominee to Adlai Stevenson today in a Denver interview.

“With people who have a lot of gifts, it’s hard for people to identify with them,” the governor said. “Barack Obama is handsome. He’s incredibly bright. He’s incredibly well spoken, and he’s incredibly successful — not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with.”

“He is a little like Adlai Stevenson,” Rendell mused. “You ask him a question, and he gives you a six-minute answer. And the six-minute answer is smart as all get out. It’s intellectual. It’s well framed. It takes care of all the contingencies. But it’s a lousy soundbite.”

“We’ve got to start smacking back in short understandable bites,” he said, noting “Everybody is nervous as all get out. Everybody says we ought to be ahead by 10, 15 points. What the heck is going on?”

The Obama-Clinton tension is by no means over. Tonight may put a screen in front of it, but the high-level discord will last for a long time.

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