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The former president cautioned exuberant delegates at the Democratic National Convention not to be complacent in 2024 because politics is “a brutal, tough business.”
transcript
Now, let’s cut to the chase. I am too old to gild the lily. Two days ago, I turned 78, the oldest man in my family of four generations. And the only personal vanity I want to assert is I’m still younger than Donald Trump. In 2024, we got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me. Kamala Harris for the people. And the other guy who’s proved even more than the first go-round that he’s about me, myself and I. So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies. Count the “I”s. He’s like one of those tenors opening up before he walks out on stage like I did, trying to get his lungs open by singing, “me, me, me, me, me.” When Kamala Harris is president, every day will begin with “you, you, you, you.”
Peter Baker
Peter Baker, who covered Bill Clinton’s presidency for The Washington Post, reported from inside the United Center in Chicago.
For Bill Clinton, there may have been a little déjà vu on the convention stage on Wednesday night. Democrats had just anointed a nominee to become the first woman ever elected president. They faced a Republican opponent they considered a buffoon. And they felt optimistic about victory.
But eight years after his front-running wife, Hillary Clinton, was upset by Donald J. Trump, Mr. Clinton warned Democrats not to make the same mistake as Vice President Kamala Harris takes on the same opponent. Joy is great, but it does not necessarily win elections. Polls are fickle. Energy is no guarantee of victory. Complacency could lead to catastrophe.
“We’ve seen more than one election slip away from us when we thought it couldn’t happen, when people got distracted by phony issues or overconfident,” Mr. Clinton told the thousands of delegates at the United Center in Chicago. “This is a brutal, tough business. I want you to be happy. One of the reasons that President-to-Be Harris is doing so well is that we’re all so happy.
“But you should never underestimate your adversary,” he continued, departing from the prepared text distributed in advance, “and these people are really good at distracting us, at triggering doubt, at triggering buyer’s remorse. As the Obamas said so eloquently last night, they are human, you know, they’re bound to make a mistake now and then,” he added, referring to Ms. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. “We’ve got to be tough.”
Mr. Clinton did not explicitly mention his wife or 2016 or the various factors that cost them that election, but he did not need to. The delegates got it. As impressive as Ms. Harris’s debut on the campaign trail has been and as jubilant as the Democrats gathered in Chicago have felt, the 2024 election is still a margin-of-error affair.
Indeed, while Ms. Harris has surged in polls beyond where President Biden was before he dropped out, she is still not doing as well against Mr. Trump as Mrs. Clinton was after her own nomination, at least not yet.
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