Bill Clinton avenges Hillary by axing Obama

From the apparently delighted Republican National Committee came a news release, headlined:

“Bubba axes Obama – again.”

And the New York Times, which reported this, also reported:

• Some Clinton conspiracy theorists, not in the White House or the Obama campaign, instantly theorized that Mr. Clinton was intentionally rocking the boat, for the man who blocked his wife from reclaiming 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the couple in 2008 – particularly since an Obama defeat in November would fuel persistent speculation about Mrs. Clinton’s own plans to make another presidential run.”

• “First was Mr. Clinton’s comment that Mr. Romney had ‘a sterling business career’ as a private equity executive, handing the Romney campaign an enduring rebuttal to Mr. Obama’s criticism of that career for Mr. Romney’s pursuit of investor profits over workers’ jobs.”

• “Then on Tuesday Mr. Clinton called for temporarily extending all the tax cuts set to expire at year’s end, including the Bush-era rates, if Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a long-term budget compromise to avert the tax increases and automatic spending cuts that otherwise will result, jolting the economy.”

A Time Magazine column, in its June 18 edition, by Mark Halperin and Elizabeth Dias, included the following:

• “With five months until Election Day, Barack Obama faces a grim new reality: Republicans now believe Mitt Romney can win, and Democrats believe Obama can lose …”

• “Last week’s anemic job-creation and economic-growth data was sandwiched between two Bill Clinton specials: In one television interview, the 42nd president lauded Romney’s business record as ‘sterling’; in another, he veered from the Obama line on the extension of Bush-era tax cuts …”

• “The failure to unseat Wisconsin’s Republican governor Scott Walker in a recall election was another bad sign for Democrats since it will rev up conservatives nationwide, including the kind of millionaires who gave big bucks to Walker’s effort …”

• “Veteran Democratic strategists from previous presidential bids and on Capitol Hill now wonder if the Obama re-election crew is working with the right message … The White House remains on a rough political trajectory, with a potentially adverse Supreme Court decision on the Obama health care law looming, additional bad economic news from Europe coming and more worrisome polling pending.”

The Washington Times editorial page noted the following:

• “Former President Clinton chimed in last week, saying Mr. Romney did ‘good work’ at Bain. He added, ‘A man who’s been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold.’ All that he left out was: ‘Especially compared to a community organizer.’”

• “Some see this as a Hillary-centric ploy, helping ensure a Democratic loss in 2012 so she could run in 2016.”

• “Mr. Obama’s response to the 2010 ‘shellacking’ was to push his liberal agenda harder and blame Republicans for refusing to see things his way. The result has been a dismal economy, middling public approval ratings and a stumbling campaign effort.”

Syndicated columnist Mike McManus notes:

• “Gov. Walker won his second gubernatorial race by 140,000 more votes than his initial election. He even earned 38 percent of the union vote, many of whom felt it was not right to recall a governor who was guilty of no malfeasance. He simply led the state to erase a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes, partly by asking public workers to pay a fairer share of overly generous benefits. He also reduced unemployment to 6.7 percent – well below the 8.2 percent U.S. rate and a point lower than when he took office.”

• “Why has the Obama administration added 140,000 federal workers in only three years? There are now 2.2 million federal employees, not counting the military or postal workers.”