On Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich argued that allowing former President Bill Clinton to speak at the Democratic National Convention last week in Charlotte, N.C. might have been a mistake by the Democratic Party.
Gingrich, who led Congressional Republicans during Clinton’s presidency, did concede to host Candy Crowley that Clinton was the highlight of the Democrats’ national convention.
“I think he can temporarily move votes,” Gingrich said. “I would say the bounce Obama is getting coming out of the convention is 80 percent Bill Clinton. Now, Clinton is a popular figure for a very practical reason, the economy worked. People had jobs. We reduced children in poverty by 25 percent through welfare reform. We actually balanced the budget for four years.”
However, President Barack Obama suffered by comparison, according to Gingrich.
“You know, you look back on that and you think, I think what it does is it actually shrinks Obama,” he said. “I mean, you have a real president, and then you have this guy who is a pretender.”