海角大神

Bill Clinton slammed Mitt Romney hard at a Manhattan fundraiser on Monday night, saying that a Romney presidency 鈥渨ould be calamitous for our country and the world.鈥�

Mr. Romney鈥檚 economic policies would mimic some of the austerity programs now in place in Europe, added the most recent former Democratic president. At the moment, that belt-tightening does not seem to be working.

鈥淲ho would have ever thought that the Republicans who made a living for decades deriding Old Europe would embrace their economic policies?鈥� said Mr. Clinton.

Well, that鈥檚 a pretty quick about-face, isn鈥檛 it? Only last week Clinton referred to Romney鈥檚 鈥渟terling鈥� business record. The remark was made in the context of an interview in which Clinton criticized Romney鈥檚 economic record, but it undercut the Obama team鈥檚 attack on Romney鈥檚 leadership of private equity firm Bain Capital, and led to days of fact-free pundit analysis of the possibly tense relationship between the past and current Democratic Party leaders.

So why has Clinton brought the harsh now? On Monday he was tougher on Romney than Obama himself has been, going after the man personally, by name.

For one thing it鈥檚 likely he thinks he needs to make up for the 鈥渟terling鈥� remark. We have no idea whether he knew what he was doing with that 鈥� predicting Clinton鈥檚 motivations has always eluded us. But if he鈥檚 going to serve as a Surrogate Number One (sorry Joe B.) for the coming campaign, he鈥檚 got to stay on board the Obama train. And all indications are that the reelection team wants Clinton to be their biggest non-Obama political weapon.

Second, Clinton was making a particular economic argument to a sophisticated audience at the home of Obama campaign bundler and billionaire hedge fund guy Marc Lasry. Presumably there were lots of other Wall Street types who paid the $40,000 necessary to get in, and they follow what鈥檚 happening in Europe at the moment. It isn鈥檛 good. Liberal economists such as Paul Krugman have continually insisted that budget-cutting policies instituted by such conservative leaders as Britain鈥檚 David Cameron are making things worse, not better. The European nations that are best weathering the storm are those traditional big-government social democracies that Republicans love to deride, according to Krugman.

Finally 鈥� and we just can鈥檛 help ourselves here 鈥� Clinton may have been thinking ahead to Hillary 2016. DC was abuzz with yet another Clinton boomlet on Sunday after House minority leader Nancy Pelosi gave an interview to the San Francisco Chronicle in which she predicted a female president in her lifetime 鈥� Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Asked about a Clinton 2016 race, Pelosi said 鈥淲hy wouldn鈥檛 she run? She鈥檚 a magnificent secretary of state. She鈥檚 our shot [that election cycle].鈥�

If that is ever going to happen, Bill Clinton needs to refrain from offending important Democratic constituencies. If Obama loses and his supporters think Clinton did not help enough, things would be that much tougher within the party for Hillary Clinton in coming years.