Gibbs: Bill Clinton had convention role all along

Barack Obama’s campaign on Friday said former President Bill Clinton has always had a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention, dismissing assertions that he was recently added to the lineup.

{mosads}The campaign appeared to be trying to diffuse rumors that tension between the two men — stemming from the difficult primary between Sens. Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)  — had overlapped into the general election.

“The notion that a former president just got added recently to the convention schedule is a little bit of a laughable idea,” Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC.

He argued that the full roster of speakers had not been released because the campaign still wants to “have some news” next week, when Obama is vacationing in Hawaii.

Gibbs called the debate over whether the former president was recently added to the speakers list a “nice little cable TV drama before the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.”