It's no surprise that former president Bill Clinton says Democratic successor Barack Obama will win re-election next year -- it would be news if he didn't -- but Clinton does have interesting things to say about the Republicans who might challenge Obama.
"I'm always reluctant to say the strongest candidates, because I'm afraid I'll kill 'em, and I don't have the right to do that," Clinton said over the weekend at the Aspen Ideas Festival, as reported by Mike Allen of Politico. "But, you know, I like the governors: I like (Jon) Huntsman and (Mitt) Romney."
"Romney's a much better candidate than he was last time (in the 2008 campaign), because he's not apologizing for signing the health care bill," Clinton said. "He's got another creative way of saying we oughta repeal Obamacare, but that's probably the price of getting the nomination."
"Huntsman hasn't said what he's for yet, but I just kinda like him," said Clinton, himself a former governor of Arkansas. "He looks authentic -- he looks like a real guy -- I mean, a real human being. I like his family, I like his kind of iconoclastic way. And he was a pretty good governor. And he wasn't a right-wing ideologue."
Clinton said Michele Bachmann has "been a better candidate than I thought she'd be, and I don't agree with her on nearly anything. But she's got a very compelling personal story, and she gotta lot of juice, and she turns (out) a lot of those anti-government crowd."
In assessing why he thinks Obama will beat whomever the Republicans put up against him, Clinton -- echoing comments he made last month to our colleague Richard Wolf -- said he did not think the economy would be that big of an obstacle:
"I think, first of all, he can talk about what he did do. He took steps which avoided a depression. He saved the automobile industry -- by not just bailing them out, but by requiring a serious restructuring ...
When he took office, we had 2% of the global market for the electric batteries that will power the next generation of all-electric cars and hybrid vehicles. And on Jan. 1 of this year, we had 20% of the global market. ...
It's not like he doesn't have a story to tell. I also think he's done a good job in trying to harmonize America's differences, trying to widen the circle of opportunity. I think he's got a good record on gay rights. I think he's got a good record on trying to promote diversity in a positive way. …
I think that he's gonna have a lot to say about America's role in the world. He's been very tough in fighting terrorists. Long before Mr. (Osama) bin Laden was dispatched, we had redeployed and had more drone attacks on terrorists, where they were really a problem for us -- the Pakistan-Afghanistan almost borderless region, and in Iraq. So I think he'll have a good record on national security.
I think he'll have a lot of things to point to on the economy. And I think his work in education has been laudable. … He'll be able to paint quite a picture."
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