President Obama’s popularity is plummeting, but Bill Clinton is having the time of his life.
The former president is the sought-after elder statesman to a Democratic Party made anxious by President Obama’s toxic drop in the polls — and Clinton has been pumping up his own profile with a series of star-studded events ahead of the release of his latest book, “Back to Work,” a 200-page tome offering Clinton’s vision for improving the economy.
His very presence is a stark reminder to the American public of how far things have sunk since the high-flying ’90s — even as he stresses that his book is an endorsement of President Obama’s economic proposals.
“It’s got to be driving the Obama administration crazy,” said a DC insider, referring to Clinton’s decision to release a book on the issue that’s hurting Obama most in the polls.
“The man [Obama] brushed off in 2008 is now the one he needs to win in 2012,” observed a second political insider.
And it’s not just his past that Clinton is promoting — it’s his ideas for the future, too. Along with “Back to Work,” to be released in November by Knopf, Clinton is amping up CGI America, a branch of his international organization that will focus on domestic policy.
Already in recent elections — and looking ahead to 2012 — Clinton is the Democrat that politicians want at their side.
“His endorsement is sought after by every wing of the Democratic Party, because … in these very partisan times, he’s risen above partisan politics, and articulates solutions to problems when we are hearing very little of that from Washington,” said Robert Zimmerman, a member of the Democratic National Committee in New York.
Clinton’s clout is such that the Democratic Party in New York — which consults with the former prez on strategy from time to time — brought him in to robo-call for David Weprin, who suffered an unexpected defeat against Republican Bob Turner in the special election for Anthony Weiner’s Queens-Brooklyn congressional seat. Turner campaigned against Weprin by linking him to Obama — and then hammering at Obama over the dismal economy.
Clinton has also been plugging the upstate agenda of Andrew Cuomo, who worked for the Clinton administration in the 1990s. Clinton showed up to headline a Sept. 27 event organized by Cuomo to tout his business solutions for the underemployed region.
Not everyone thinks Clinton is acting solely out of party loyalty — some note that the politicians he supports the most are the ones who were early backers of his wife in 2008.
“In the off chance that Obama turns out to be Jimmy Carter the second, and loses in 2012, Clinton is putting Hillary in a good position to be the front-runner in 2016,” observed one politico.