Obama jokes Bill Clinton should be named ‘secretary of explaining stuff’
President Obama on Saturday hammed it up over former President Clinton’s popular convention speech, praising his Oval Office predecessor’s defense of his record.
At a St. Petersburg, Fla. rally, Obama noted that Clinton “made the case as only he can.”
“After he spoke, somebody sent out a tweet that said “you should appoint him ‘secretary of explaining stuff.’ I like that!”
{mosads}”I have to admit, it didn’t say ‘stuff’. I cleaned that up,” Obama added.
The success of the Clinton speech, which ran for 48 minutes due to extensive ad-libbing, has led the Obama campaign to expand Clinton’s role in the coming weeks.
The former president spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday, defending the president’s record and arguing that no president could address all of the economic challenges Obama inherited in just one term.
Obama spoke on Thursday, but his convention speech was overshadowed by Friday’s release of disappointing jobs report which showed the economy added 96,000 jobs in August, well below expectations.
In swing-state Florida Saturday, Obama devoted his appearance to a stump speech based on his own convention address, touting measures he said would help continue the economic recovery.
The president laid out goals for manufacturing jobs, energy, education, national security and the deficit but did not delve deeply into how those goals will be achieved.
Republicans charge that Obama’s goals for more teachers and one million new manufacturing jobs have not been fleshed out and his deficit claim of being able to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion includes savings already included in 2011 legislation and occurring naturally from the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama also mocked GOP candidate Mitt Romney for relying on tax cuts as a cure-all.
Obama also criticized Romney’s vow to repeal “ObamaCare,” as Republicans dub the president’s healthcare reform package without offering a replacement to insure most Americans.
“I do care,” said Obama. “Mr. Romney says he wants to repeal it, which means his plan is Romney-don’t-care.”
Obama is on a two-day tour through Florida, with polls showing the state a toss-up.
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