Obama camp ‘not nervous’ about Bill Clinton speech

DENVER — Senior advisers to Barack Obama said Wednesday morning that they are not concerned about what former President Bill Clinton might say when he speaks from the podium Wednesday night. 

On an early morning conference call, Obama adviser Anita Dunn said Obama has been in touch with the former president, and the campaign is “excited” about his speech.

{mosads}“We’re not nervous at all,” she added.

Dunn and other Obama advisers said the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic nominee talked to Clinton last week about his speech and Tuesday night about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) speech.

The campaign noted that Obama called both the senator and the former president after Sen. Clinton's well-received speech Tuesday night, and both Obama and the former president agreed that their wives’ speeches had set the bar high for the former president and the aspiring one.

The ongoing narrative at the Democratic convention has been one of party disunity as disaffected supporters of Sen. Clinton have repeatedly and vocally made their dissatisfaction apparent.

The former president has been another cause for concern as remarks he made at a speech here Tuesday were widely viewed as raising questions about the extent of his support for Obama and just how much his wounds from the nomination battle have healed since Obama claimed victory.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Sen. Clinton made the case for party unity, and she delivered a “powerful and compelling speech that leaves no doubt about where she stands.”

Burton noted that even former Clinton adviser and a critic of Monday night's proceedings, James Carville, “was happy about how we laid out the choice last night.”

Burton and other Obama advisers have sought to downplay any talk of party disunity throughout the week, and on Wednesday Burton called Bill Clinton “a unique and beloved figure in our party and our country.”