This is hilarious. Not only is the last Republican president not out stumping for Romney, he’s speaking at a Cayman Islands investment summit.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/01/14855019-a-tale-of-two-former-presidents
That’ll have no impact at all on the race. GWB has been avowedly apolitical in his personal appearances since leaving office. I think he’s happy that way and I think the Republican Party is happy that way.
Clinton, on the other hand, is a political animal in all phases of his life. He’s going to be out there doing his best for his team because that’s what makes him…him. (And it may well be earning favors for Hilary in 2016).
So it’s not so much whether GWB should be out there. It’s just that politics isn’t, and frankly hasn’t ever been, his thing. He’s not a natural at it like Clinton is and seems happy to be away. I can’t blame him for that.
And the thing about the Cayman’s is just nonsense. Not one voter in a million would care.
I didn’t claim that it would affect the election. I just found it ironic.
I think he’d love to be in the thick of things right now, enjoying a reputation as a former president. The fact that he isn’t is only because his name is mud after his term in office. Contrast that with Clinton’s, and you have the reason for their respective roles in this election campaign.
I thought that was stumping for Romney.
How active were Reagan/Carter in 1988?
As noted, GWB left office with approval ratings lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut. Clinton seems to be helping Obama this time, but he did a heck-of-a job “helping” Hillary win the nomination in 2008.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Did Clinton campaign for Kerry in '04? JW
Reagan was by then too senile to be active in anything.
At least a bit, yes. He also spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention, although the Obama campaign gave Clinton a more prominent slot.
I think its pretty clear his post-election silence is due to his unpopularity with the electorate rather then personal preference. I doubt he’d mind giving a few stump speeches for Romney if he thought it would help, but the last thing the Romney campaign wants is to remind people of the Bush presidency.
I suspect the RNC wishes Cheney would do the same.
Yes. He was a speaker at the '04 convention, and went on the stump for Kerry after that.