The little Obamaites (2755 comments so far) are howling over at the Huffington Post today. How dare Bill Clinton even suggest their idol, who won the presidency by selling hope, should express a little more optimism about the economy when speaking to the American people?
As I’ve said repeatedly since day one of the Democratic primary, I don’t need a charismatic politician speaking in the cadences of an evangelical preacher to give me hope. My hope springs from a much deeper level.
But Mr. Clinton does have a point: the economic meltdown is to an extent a crisis of confidence, and it might help matters if President Obama would express a little more optimism regarding the extensive measures his economic team has been throwing together and pitching to the people.
Besides, the very courteous and good-natured former president, with two successful terms under his belt in which the economy fared well, gave Obama high marks so far in his nascent administration.
Here’s the version of Clinton’s advice to Obama that appeared at Top of the Ticket in the LA Times:
Tone down the economic despondency talk some and ratchet up the optimism a bit. All gloom and doom could worsen the situation. Scare people.
"I just want the American people to know that he's confident that we are gonna get out of this and that he feels good about the long run," Clinton tells ABC's Chris Cuomo on "Good Morning America" today.
