DENVER -- Bill Clinton has likened his bid to be president 16 years ago with Barack Obama's current campaign, comparing their battles to overcome charges of inexperience while making amends for angry stumbles made during his wife's unsuccessful run for the White House.
"Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief," Clinton said Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention after the crowd greeted him with elated applause and cheers.
"Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."
Clinton was among the chorus of critics during primary season who complained that Obama lacked the experience to be president. But following the tone set by his wife a night earlier, the 42nd president of the United States said he now fully supported the Illinois senator's run for president.
He reminded the thousands of Democrats that Hillary Clinton had assured the crowd she would do everything possible to ensure Obama, her onetime rival for the Democratic nomination, won the presidency.
"That makes two of us," Clinton, looking fit and rested, said to roars for the crowd. "Barack Obama is the man for this job... Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States."
By most accounts, it must have been a difficult endorsement Clinton to make, although there was little sign Wednesday night of the man said to be still fuming about his wife's loss to Obama.
Privately, Clinton is said to believe Obama and his team haven't paid Hillary Clinton the respect she was due in the aftermath of her loss, and is apparently miffed they've done little to seek his counsel given he was the only Democrat to win two terms in office in more than 60 years and left office with a high approval rating.
The former Arkansas governor was not the night's keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention -- that honour was reserved for Joe Biden, Obama's vice-presidential running mate -- but his appearance was among the most hotly anticipated of the four-day event due to rumours about his anger over his wife's loss.
He's been in Denver since Tuesday, but had said nothing publicly that suggested his wounds had healed. Instead, he kept a low profile and avoided talking to the media about the tensions between the Obama and Clinton camps.
Clinton established a lucrative niche for himself as an adored senior statesman and sought-after public speaker when he left the White House after two terms in 2000.
A new and startlingly different Clinton emerged during Hillary Clinton's bid to become the Democratic presidential candidate. He's been accused of contributing heavily to his wife's loss because of what many describe as his nasty, down-in-the-gutter attempts to ensure she beat Barack Obama.
In Denver this week, some defended Clinton as a man who was simply looking out for his wife.
"That's one of the things I admire about him -- he's a real spouse and he reacts the way a real spouse does," Howard Wilson, former communications director for Hillary Clinton's campaign, said earlier this week.
Others say Clinton's behaviour was beneath him.
"He's sort of yesterday's man trying to be today's man and he seems angry about it," said Shawn Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California at Riverside.
-- The Canadian Press
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