Bill Clinton falls in line, thrills crowd

DENVER — Former President Bill Clinton sprinkled his trademark magic over the Pepsi Center on Wednesday, bringing delegates to their feet with an unequivocal and full-throated endorsement of Barack Obama that many felt was long overdue.

Clinton was in his element at the podium as the packed arena paid tribute to him with long and deafening applause. He returned the favor by completing the Clinton endorsement of Obama as the party’s nominee.

{mosads}“Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she’ll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama,” Clinton said. “That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us — because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.”

Clinton was forceful in proclaiming his support for Obama, offering myriad reasons for supporting his wife’s bitter rival and why the rest of the Democratic Party should do so as well. Many Obama supporters and even some Clinton loyalists were concerned and angry when the former president previously offered only tepid support for Obama. But their doubts and fears were likely allayed to some extent by Clinton’s rousing remarks.

“Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the world,” Clinton said. “Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.”

He also fully endorsed Obama’s choice for a running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), even though some Hillary Clinton supporters are furious that the senator from New York was not picked instead. She was, reportedly, not even vetted for the position.

“I am honored to be here tonight to support Barack Obama,” Clinton said in his opening, “and to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden, though, as you’ll soon see, he doesn’t need any help from me. I love Joe Biden, and America will too.”

Clinton said that in Obama’s first presidential-level decision — the selection of a running mate — “he hit it out of the park.”

“With Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom supporting Barack Obama’s proven understanding, insight and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need,” Clinton said.

Clinton did not ignore the contentious primary that saw the former president’s legacy tarnished by his controversial remarks. He praised his wife’s campaign.

"The campaign generated so much heat it increased global warming,” he said. “In the end, my candidate didn’t win. But I’m very proud of the campaign she ran; she never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes she pushed for, on the future she wants for all our children.”

{mospagebreak}Clinton went on, however, to say that the heated nomination battle honed Obama. “The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him,” the former president said.

He also made seemingly inevitable comparisons between his own campaign for the presidency and Obama’s.

“Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief,” Clinton said. “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.”

Democrats close to Clinton said Tuesday that those in the party and the media who wondered if Clinton would make the case for Obama and party unity would have that uncertainty put to rest Wednesday night.

{mosads}“I think it’s very important for Barack Obama to win for Bill Clinton and his legacy,” Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton confidant and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Tuesday

The former president never mentioned Republican rival Sen. John McCain by name, but he did talk about the Arizona senator as a “good man.”

The McCain campaign seized on Clinton’s efforts to help establish Obama’s foreign policy credentials, noting that Clinton’s addressing of the issue was reflective of “the concern among Democratic voters about Barack Obama’s inexperience.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds added that Clinton “was finally forced to testify that Sen. Obama is ready to be president, despite his previous arguments to the contrary.”

“President Clinton was a forceful advocate for Democratic partisanship, but what he fails to recognize is that the problem in Washington is not the Republicans or Democrats in Congress; the problem is that people aren’t following John McCain’s lead to work together to solve America’s problems,” Bounds said.

Ian Swanson contributed to this story.